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Tax-Based Marriage Incentives in the Affordable Care Act

Author

Listed:
  • Isaac, Elliott

    (Tulane University)

  • Jiang, Haibin

    (Tulane University)

Abstract

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) introduced a premium tax credit to help low-income families purchase insurance and an individual mandate penalty to encourage purchasing insurance, but a couple’s total tax credit and mandate penalty may differ depending on whether they are married. We use a sample of married and cohabiting couples in the 2012–2017 American Community Surveys and leverage variation in the marriage subsidy created by the ACA’s premium tax credit, individual mandate, and Medicaid expansion. Using an instrumental variables approach, we estimate a significant though small positive marriage response that is robust to extensive controls and a placebo sample.

Suggested Citation

  • Isaac, Elliott & Jiang, Haibin, 2022. "Tax-Based Marriage Incentives in the Affordable Care Act," IZA Discussion Papers 15331, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15331
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    marriage; affordable care act; premium tax credit; individual mandate;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies

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