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 falsification tests. We find consistent evidence from other healthcare reforms such as the 2014 Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion and the 2005 Tennessee Medicaid disenrollment, supporting our findings’ external validity. Our results provide novel evidence on the psychological consequences of recent healthcare reforms expanding health insurance coverage to the uninsured.

Keywords

health insurance, life satisfaction, happiness, subjective well-being, Massachusetts healthcare reform

Discipline

Economics

Research Areas

Applied Microeconomics

First Page

1

Last Page

43

Included in

Economics Commons

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