IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/20202.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Access to Health Insurance and the Use of Inpatient Medical Care: Evidence from the Affordable Care Act Young Adult Mandate

Author

Listed:
  • Yaa Akosa Antwi
  • Asako S. Moriya
  • Kosali Simon

Abstract

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 expanded coverage to young adults by allowing them to remain on their parent's private health insurance until they turn 26 years old. While there is evidence on insurance effects, we know very little about use of general or specific forms of medical care. We study the implications of the expansion for the use of inpatient hospitalizations. Given the prevalence of mental health needs for young adults, we also specifically study mental health related inpatient care. We find evidence that compared to those aged 27-29 years, treated young adults aged 19-25 years increased their inpatient visits by 3.5 percent. Visits related to mental illness increased 9.0 percent. The prevalence of uninsurance among hospitalized young adults decreased by 12.5 percent; however, it does not appear that the intensity of inpatient treatment changed despite the change in reimbursement composition of patients.

Suggested Citation

  • Yaa Akosa Antwi & Asako S. Moriya & Kosali Simon, 2014. "Access to Health Insurance and the Use of Inpatient Medical Care: Evidence from the Affordable Care Act Young Adult Mandate," NBER Working Papers 20202, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20202
    Note: EH
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w20202.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. A. Colin Cameron & Jonah B. Gelbach & Douglas L. Miller, 2008. "Bootstrap-Based Improvements for Inference with Clustered Errors," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(3), pages 414-427, August.
    2. Joseph J. Doyle Jr., 2005. "Health Insurance, Treatment and Outcomes: Using Auto Accidents as Health Shocks," NBER Working Papers 11099, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Kolstad, Jonathan T. & Kowalski, Amanda E., 2012. "The impact of health care reform on hospital and preventive care: Evidence from Massachusetts," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(11), pages 909-929.
    4. Amy Finkelstein & Sarah Taubman & Bill Wright & Mira Bernstein & Jonathan Gruber & Joseph P. Newhouse & Heidi Allen & Katherine Baicker, 2012. "The Oregon Health Insurance Experiment: Evidence from the First Year," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(3), pages 1057-1106.
    5. Colleen L. Barry & M. Susan Ridgely, 2008. "Mental health and substance abuse insurance parity for federal employees: How did health plans respond?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 155-170.
    6. Yaa Akosa Antwi & Asako S. Moriya & Kosali Simon, 2013. "Effects of Federal Policy to Insure Young Adults: Evidence from the 2010 Affordable Care Act's Dependent-Coverage Mandate," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 5(4), pages 1-28, November.
    7. David Card & Carlos Dobkin & Nicole Maestas, 2008. "The Impact of Nearly Universal Insurance Coverage on Health Care Utilization: Evidence from Medicare," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(5), pages 2242-2258, December.
    8. Kuhn, Andreas & Lalive, Rafael & Zweimüller, Josef, 2009. "The public health costs of job loss," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 1099-1115, December.
    9. Dafny, Leemore & Gruber, Jonathan, 2005. "Public insurance and child hospitalizations: access and efficiency effects," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 109-129, January.
    10. Miller, Sarah, 2012. "The effect of insurance on emergency room visits: An analysis of the 2006 Massachusetts health reform," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(11), pages 893-908.
    11. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    12. Michael L. Anderson & Carlos Dobkin & Tal Gross, 2014. "The Effect of Health Insurance on Emergency Department Visits: Evidence from an Age-Based Eligibility Threshold," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(1), pages 189-195, March.
    13. Frank, Richard G. & McGuire, Thomas G., 2000. "Economics and mental health," Handbook of Health Economics, in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 16, pages 893-954, Elsevier.
    14. Michael Anderson & Carlos Dobkin & Tal Gross, 2012. "The Effect of Health Insurance Coverage on the Use of Medical Services," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 4(1), pages 1-27, February.
    15. Joseph J. Doyle, 2005. "Health Insurance, Treatment and Outcomes: Using Auto Accidents as Health Shocks," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(2), pages 256-270, May.
    16. Tefft, Nathan, 2011. "Insights on unemployment, unemployment insurance, and mental health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 258-264, March.
    17. Maclean, Johanna Catherine, 2013. "The health effects of leaving school in a bad economy," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 951-964.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Barbaresco, Silvia & Courtemanche, Charles J. & Qi, Yanling, 2015. "Impacts of the Affordable Care Act dependent coverage provision on health-related outcomes of young adults," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 54-68.
    2. Jungtaek Lee, 2018. "Effects of health insurance coverage on risky behaviors," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(4), pages 762-777, April.
    3. Sebastian Tello Trillo & Ausmita Ghosh & Kosali Simon & Johanna Catherine Maclean, 2015. "Losing Medicaid: What happens to hospitalizations?," NBER Working Papers 21580, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Mark Duggan & Atul Gupta & Emilie Jackson, 2022. "The Impact of the Affordable Care Act: Evidence from California's Hospital Sector," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 14(1), pages 111-151, February.
    5. Yörük Barış K., 2018. "Health insurance coverage and health care utilization: Evidence from the Affordable Care Act’s dependent coverage mandate," Forum for Health Economics & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 21(2), pages 1-24, December.
    6. Padmaja Ayyagari & Dan M. Shane & George L. Wehby, 2017. "The Impact of Medicare Part D on Emergency Department Visits," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 536-544, April.
    7. Nilsson, Anton & Paul, Alexander, 2018. "Patient cost-sharing, socioeconomic status, and children's health care utilization," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 109-124.
    8. Jacqueline Fiore, 2017. "The Impact of the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid Expansion on Medicaid Spending by Health Care Service Category," Working Papers 1706, Tulane University, Department of Economics, revised Mar 2018.
    9. Charles J. Courtemanche & Daniela Zapata, 2014. "Does Universal Coverage Improve Health? The Massachusetts Experience," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 36-69, January.
    10. Charles Courtemanche & James Marton & Benjamin Ukert & Aaron Yelowitz & Daniela Zapata, 2018. "Early Effects of the Affordable Care Act on Health Care Access, Risky Health Behaviors, and Self‐Assessed Health," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 84(3), pages 660-691, January.
    11. Dillender, Marcus, 2015. "The effect of health insurance on workers’ compensation filing: Evidence from the affordable care act's age-based threshold for dependent coverage," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 204-228.
    12. Maclean, Johanna Catherine & Tello-Trillo, Sebastian & Webber, Douglas, 2023. "Losing insurance and psychiatric hospitalizations," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 508-527.
    13. Thomas Buchmueller & Sarah Miller & Marko Vujicic, 2016. "How Do Providers Respond to Changes in Public Health Insurance Coverage? Evidence from Adult Medicaid Dental Benefits," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(4), pages 70-102, November.
    14. Kaestner, Robert & Sasso, Anthony T. Lo, 2015. "Does seeing the doctor more often keep you out of the hospital?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 259-272.
    15. repec:mrr:papers:wp341 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Thomas Buchmueller & John C. Ham & Lara D. Shore-Sheppard, 2015. "The Medicaid Program," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States, Volume 1, pages 21-136, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Michael Anderson & Carlos Dobkin & Tal Gross, 2012. "The Effect of Health Insurance Coverage on the Use of Medical Services," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 4(1), pages 1-27, February.
    18. Kolstad, Jonathan T. & Kowalski, Amanda E., 2012. "The impact of health care reform on hospital and preventive care: Evidence from Massachusetts," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(11), pages 909-929.
    19. Chad Cotti & Erik Nesson & Nathan Tefft, 2019. "Impacts of the ACA Medicaid expansion on health behaviors: Evidence from household panel data," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(2), pages 219-244, February.
    20. Maclean, J. Catherine & Tello-Trillo, Sebastian & Webber, Douglas A., 2019. "Losing Insurance and Behavioral Health Hospitalizations: Evidence from a Large-Scale Medicaid Disenrollment," IZA Discussion Papers 12463, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    21. Daniel Sebastian Tello‐Trillo, 2021. "Effects of losing public health insurance on preventative care, health, and emergency department use: Evidence from the TennCare disenrollment," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 88(1), pages 322-366, July.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20202. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.