Full Citation
Title: The Impact of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid Expansion on Medicaid Spending by Health Care Service Category
Citation Type: Working Paper
Publication Year: 2017
ISBN:
ISSN:
DOI:
NSFID:
PMCID:
PMID:
Abstract: The 2014 Medicaid expansion revised Medicaid eligibility provisions to allow for low-income, nonelderly adults to be eligible for Medicaid on those states which opt for this change. During the first two years after the expansion, there were more than 10.7 million newly eligible Medicaid enrollees nationwide. I investigate the short-term impact the 2014 Medicaid expansion had on Medicaid spending by the government. Using data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on all Medicaid expenditures over a seventeen year period. I apply a difference-in-differences design to exploit the variation among states electing to participate in the expansion and the health care services they offer. These data allow me to study the economic impact of the expansion on all possible health care services. Among the 21 services assessed, I find that after the expansion became effective, five services utilized by the target population for the reform experienced a statistically significant increase in average Medicaid spending: dental services (211 percent), clinic services (101 percent), outpatient hospital services (77 percent), physician and surgical services (35 percent), and inpatient hospital services (17 percent). This implies that the new adult group may be healthier and seeking more routine or preventive care compared to the traditional Medicaid population. The increase in routine and preventive care has the potential to result in better health outcomes and fewer medical emergencies in the future, ultimately lowering Medicaid spending by the state and federal government over the long term.
Url: http://econ.tulane.edu/RePEc/pdf/tul1706.pdf
User Submitted?: No
Authors: Fiore, Jacqueline
Series Title:
Publication Number: 1706
Institution: Tulane University
Pages: 66
Publisher Location: New Orleans, LA
Data Collections: IPUMS CPS
Topics: Health, Other
Countries: