The Effect of Health Insurance on Emergency Department Visits: Evidence from an Age-Based Eligibility Threshold
نویسندگان
چکیده
This paper studies how health insurance affects the rate at which individuals visit hospitals and emergency departments (EDs). We identify the causal effect of losing health insurance using a regression discontinuity design. We compare individuals just before and just after their 23rd birthdays, which private insurers have used as a cutoff after which students are no longer eligible for their parents’ health insurance. Roughly 1.5 percent of young adults lose their health insurance on their 23rd birthday, and we find that this transition leads to a 1.6-percent decrease in ED visits and a 0.8percent decrease in visits to the hospital. We discuss why these estimates are significantly larger than those observed among teenage populations. JEL Codes: I11, I18, G22
منابع مشابه
Insurance coverage of emergency care for young adults under health reform.
BACKGROUND The Affordable Care Act (ACA) established nationwide eligibility for young adults 19 to 25 years of age to retain coverage under their parents' private health plans. We conducted a study to determine how the implementation of this provision changed rates of insurance coverage for young adults seeking medical care for major emergencies. METHODS We evaluated more than 480,000 nondisc...
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