Document Type
Article
Abstract
This paper analyzes how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Dependent Coverage Provision affected insurance coverage in the Midwestern region. The Dependent Coverage Provision allows individuals ages 19 to 25 to remain as dependents on parental health insurance plans. This provision was implemented to decrease the number of young adults who were uninsured. Using data from the American Community Survey spanning the years 2008-2013 and estimating difference-in-differences models, I test the impact of the policy implementation on health insurance coverage among a sample of Midwestern young adults. Under my preferred specification, which includes two-way fixed effects and controls for observable characteristics, I find that the policy led to a 5.63 percent increase in insurance coverage among young adults in the region. In an analysis of policy heterogeneity, I find that the Dependent Coverage Provision had the largest impact among Black males that were unemployed, a subgroup that likely had difficulty acquiring appropriate health insurance prior to the ACA. This study indicates that the Dependent Coverage Provision was effective in increasing the number of insured individuals.
Publication Date
Spring 2021
Journal Title
Major Themes in Economics
Volume
23
Issue
1
First Page
1
Last Page
18
Copyright
©2021 by Major Themes in Economics
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Herz, Sarah
(2021)
"Affordable Care Act Insurance Coverage Gains in the Midwest: Evidence from the Dependent Coverage Provision,"
Major Themes in Economics, 23, 1-18.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/mtie/vol23/iss1/2