Full Citation
Title: Effects of the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid Expansion on Health Insurance Coverage for Individuals in Same-Sex Couples
Citation Type: Journal Article
Publication Year: 2022
ISBN:
ISSN: 1475-6773
DOI: 10.1111/1475-6773.14128
NSFID:
PMCID:
PMID:
Abstract: Objective: To examine whether the Affordable Care Act's (ACA's) Medicaid expansions affected health insurance coverage for individuals in same-sex couples. Data Sources and Study Setting: We used data on adults aged 18–64 years in same-sex couples (n = 33,512) from the 2008–2018 American Community Survey (ACS). Study Design: To estimate the effect of the impact of the state Medicaid expansions under the ACA on health insurance coverage for sexual minorities, we utilize a standard difference-in-differences approach to leverage the variation across geography and time in expanding Medicaid. Data Collection: Secondary and publicly available ACS data were obtained from IPUMS at the University of Minnesota. Principal Findings: We find that Medicaid expansion significantly increased health insurance coverage among low-income men and women in same-sex couples by 4.9 (standard error [SE] = 1.75) and 6.5 (SE = 1.96) percentage points, respectively. We find increases in the likelihood of having Medicaid and reductions in private health insurance from an employer or privately purchased insurance. Effects on Medicaid take-up are consistently larger for low-income women in same-sex couples as compared to low-income men in same-sex couples. Conclusions: We provide the first evidence on the relationship between state Medicaid expansions under the ACA and health insurance coverage among sexual minority adults, a group that has been understudied in past research. Our results confirm that sexual minority adults benefitted from the ACA's Medicaid expansions with respect to increased health insurance coverage.
Url: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1475-6773.14128
User Submitted?: No
Authors: Mann, Samuel; Carpenter, Christopher S.; Gonzales, Gilbert; Harrell, Benjamin; Deal, Cameron
Periodical (Full): Health Services Research
Issue:
Volume: 58
Pages: 612-621
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Health, Population Health and Health Systems
Countries: