Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
submittedVersion
Publication Date
11-2021
Abstract
We study the role of access to health insurance coverage as a determinant of individuals' subjective well-being (SWB) by analyzing large-scale healthcare reforms in the United States. Using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we find that the 2006 Massachusetts reform and 2014 Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion improved the overall life satisfaction of Massachusetts residents and low-income adults in Medicaid expansion states, respectively. The results are robust to various sensitivity and falsification tests. Our findings imply that access to health insurance plays an important role in improving SWB. Without considering psychological benefits, the actual benefits of health insurance may be underemphasized.
Keywords
health insurance, life satisfaction, subjective well-being, Massachusetts healthcare reform, Affordable Care Act Medicaid Expansion, Tennessee Medicaid disenrollment
Discipline
Health Economics
Research Areas
Applied Microeconomics
Publication
Health Economics
Volume
31
First Page
233
Last Page
249
ISSN
1057-9230
Identifier
10.1002/hec.4448
Publisher
Wiley: 12 months
Citation
KIM, Seonghoon.
Health insurance and subjective well-being: Evidence from two healthcare reforms in the United States. (2021). Health Economics. 31, 233-249.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soe_research/2499
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
https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.4448