Publication Type
Working Paper
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
10-2018
Abstract
We study the effects of Massachusetts' healthcare reform on individuals' subjective well-being. Using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, we find that the reform significantly improved Massachusetts residents' overall life-satisfaction. This result is robust to various sensitivity checks and a falsification test. We also find that the reform improved mental health. An additional analysis on the Tennessee healthcare reform supports our findings' external validity. Using the reform as an instrument for health insurance coverage, we estimate its large impact on overall life-satisfaction. Our results provide novel evidence on the psychological consequences of Massachusetts' healthcare reform.
Keywords
Health insurance, Life satisfaction, Happiness, Subjective well-being, Massachusetts healthcare reform
Discipline
Health Economics
Research Areas
Applied Microeconomics
Issue
IZA DP No. 11879
First Page
1
Last Page
39
Publisher
IZA DP No. 11879
City or Country
Bonn
Citation
KIM, Seonghoon and KOH, Kanghyock.
Does health insurance make people happier? Evidence from Massachusetts’ healthcare reform. (2018). 1-39.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soe_research/2268
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
http://ftp.iza.org/dp11879.pdf