Are Mental Health Insurance Mandates Effective?: Evidence from Suicides
Abstract
Many states have passed laws mandating insurance companies to provide or offer some form of mental health benefits. These laws presumably lower the price of obtaining mental health services for many adults, and as a result, might improve health outcomes. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of mental health insurance mandates by examining the influence of mandates on adult suicides, which are strongly correlated with mental illness. Data on completed suicides in each state for the period 1981-2000 are analyzed. Ordinary least squares and two-stage least squares results show that mental health mandates are not effective in reducing suicide rates.Download Info
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Paper provided by Department of Economics, Rutgers University, Newark in its series Working Papers Rutgers University, Newark with number 2004-003.Length:
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Handle: RePEc:run:wpaper:2004-003
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Related research
Keywords: Suicide; mandated benefits; mental health;Other versions of this item:
- Jonathan Klick & Sara Markowitz, 2006. "Are mental health insurance mandates effective? Evidence from suicides," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(1), pages 83-97.
- Jonathan Klick & Sara Markowitz, 2003. "Are Mental Health Insurance Mandates Effective? Evidence from Suicides," NBER Working Papers 9994, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2004-03-28 (All new papers)
- NEP-HEA-2004-03-28 (Health Economics)
References
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Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Dhaval M. Dave & Swati Mukerjee, 2008. "Mental Health Parity Legislation, Cost-Sharing and Substance Abuse Treatment Admissions," NBER Working Papers 14471, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Marianne P. Bitler, 2005.
"Effects of Increased Access to Infertility Treatment on Infant and Child Health Outcomes: Evidence from Health Insurance Mandate,"
Working Papers
330, RAND Corporation Publications Department.
- Marianne Bitler, 2005. "Effects of Increased Access to Infertility Treatment on Infant and Child Health Outcomes: Evidence from Health Insurance Mandates," PPIC Working Papers 2005.06, Public Policy Institute of California.
- Joe Chen & Yun Jeong Choi & Kohta Mori & Yasuyuki Sawada & Saki Sugano, 2009.
"Socio-Economic Studies on Suicide: A Survey,"
CIRJE F-Series
CIRJE-F-629, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
- Joe Chen & Yun Jeong Choi & Kohta Mori & Yasuyuki Sawada & Saki Sugano, 2012. "Socio‐Economic Studies On Suicide: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 271-306, 04.
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