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The effect of expanding access to health insurance on the health and mortality of Social Security Disability Insurance beneficiaries

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  • Weathers, Robert R.
  • Stegman, Michelle

Abstract

We use a social experiment to estimate the impact of expanding health insurance coverage on the health and mortality of newly entitled SSDI beneficiaries who lacked health insurance. Our intent-to-treat estimates show that expanding health insurance has significant effects on self-reported health at one year following health insurance enrollment, positive effects on mental health and physical health at one year following health insurance enrollment, and no significant effects on mortality within our observation period. About 30% of control group members obtained health insurance coverage within one year following enrollment. We use two-stage least square models to estimate the impact on those who would not have obtained health insurance coverage without the demonstration project and find larger effects on self-reported health and mental health among these SSDI beneficiaries. Finally, we examine distributional impacts to show that mean impacts miss meaningful effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Weathers, Robert R. & Stegman, Michelle, 2012. "The effect of expanding access to health insurance on the health and mortality of Social Security Disability Insurance beneficiaries," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 863-875.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:31:y:2012:i:6:p:863-875
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2012.08.004
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Klein, Alexander & Crafts, Nicholas, 2023. "Unconditional Convergence in Manufacturing Productivity across U.S. States: What the Long-Run Data Show," CEPR Discussion Papers 18065, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Bernard Black & José-Antonio Espín-Sánchez & Eric French & Kate Litvak, 2017. "The Long-Term Effect of Health Insurance on Near-Elderly Health and Mortality," American Journal of Health Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(3), pages 281-311, Summer.
    3. Jacob Goldin & Ithai Z. Lurie & Janet McCubbin, 2019. "Health Insurance and Mortality: Experimental Evidence from Taxpayer Outreach," NBER Working Papers 26533, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Junfang Xu & Jian Wang & Madeleine King & Ruiyun Liu & Fenghua Yu & Jinshui Xing & Lei Su & Mingshan Lu, 2018. "Rural–urban disparities in the utilization of mental health inpatient services in China: the role of health insurance," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 377-393, December.
    5. Bhalotra, Sonia & Fernandez, Manuel, 2021. "The Right to Health and the Health Effects of Denials," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 586, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    6. Black, Bernard & Hollingsworth, Alex & Nunes, Letícia & Simon, Kosali, 2022. "Simulated power analyses for observational studies: An application to the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    7. Sarah Miller & Norman Johnson & Laura R Wherry, 2021. "Medicaid and Mortality: New Evidence From Linked Survey and Administrative Data," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(3), pages 1783-1829.
    8. Black, Bernard & French, Eric & McCauley, Jeremy & Song, Jae, 2024. "The effect of disability insurance receipt on mortality," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    9. Moore, Timothy J., 2015. "The employment effects of terminating disability benefits," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 30-43.
    10. Liying Song & Yan Wang & Baodong Chen & Tan Yang & Weiliang Zhang & Yafeng Wang, 2020. "The Association between Health Insurance and All-Cause, Cardiovascular Disease, Cancer and Cause-Specific Mortality: A Prospective Cohort Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-11, February.
    11. 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.
    12. Michelle Stegman Baily & Robert R. Weathers II, 2014. "The Accelerated Benefits Demonstration: Impacts on the Employment of Disability Insurance Beneficiaries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 336-341, May.
    13. Matt Hampton & Otto Lenhart, 2022. "Access to health care and mental health—Evidence from the ACA preexisting conditions provision," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(5), pages 760-783, May.
    14. Enami, Ali, 2016. "Determinants of Child Mortality in Africa: A Methodological Discussion," MPRA Paper 68671, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Anderes, Marc & Pichler, Stefan, 2023. "Mental health effects of social distancing in Switzerland," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    16. repec:mrr:papers:wp341 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Xiaoxue Li & Sarah S. Stith, 2020. "Health insurance and self‐assessed health: New evidence from Affordable Care Act repeal fear," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(9), pages 1078-1085, September.
    18. Soomin Ryu & Lu Fan, 2023. "The Relationship Between Financial Worries and Psychological Distress Among U.S. Adults," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 16-33, March.
    19. J Dustin Tracy & Kevin A James & Hillard Kaplan & Stephen Rassenti, 2021. "An investigation of health insurance policy and behavior in a virtual environment," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(4), pages 1-26, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Health insurance; Medicare; SSDI; Social experiment; Mortality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C90 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - General
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality

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