Full Citation

Title: Losing Insurance and Behavioral Health Hospitalizations: Evidence from a Large-scale Medicaid Disenrollment

Citation Type: Working Paper

Publication Year: 2019

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI: 10.3386/w25936

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Abstract: We study the effects of losing insurance on behavioral health – mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) – community hospitalizations. We leverage variation in public insurance eligibility offered by a large-scale Medicaid disenrollment. Losing insurance decreased SUDrelated hospitalizations but mental illness hospitalizations were unchanged. Use of Medicaid to pay for behavioral health hospitalizations declined post-disenrollment. Mental illness hospitalization financing shifted to private insurance, Medicare, and patients, while SUD treatment financing shifted entirely to patients. We investigate implications of reliance on data that is not representative at the level of the treatment variable and propose a possible solution.

Url: https://www.nber.org/papers/w25936

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Maclean, Johanna, C; Tello-Trillo, Sebastian; Webber, Douglas

Series Title: National Bureau of Economic Research

Publication Number: 25936

Institution: NBER

Pages: 1-45

Publisher Location: Cambridge, MA

Data Collections: IPUMS CPS

Topics: Aging and Retirement, Health, Population Health and Health Systems

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