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Health insurance and subjective well‐being: Evidence from two healthcare reforms in the United States
Author(s) -
Kim Seonghoon,
Koh Kanghyock
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
health economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.55
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1099-1050
pISSN - 1057-9230
DOI - 10.1002/hec.4448
Subject(s) - medicaid , behavioral risk factor surveillance system , health care , patient protection and affordable care act , actuarial science , health insurance , scale (ratio) , panel study of income dynamics , public economics , demographic economics , panel survey , business , economics , medicine , economic growth , public health , nursing , geography , cartography
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.