Health insurance and subjective well-being: Evidence from two healthcare reforms in the United States

• Main Author: KIM, Seonghoon
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2021
• Subjects: health insurance; life satisfaction; subjective well-being; Massachusetts healthcare reform; Affordable Care Act Medicaid Expansion; Tennessee Medicaid disenrollment; Health Economics
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soe_research/2499; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soe_research/article/3498/viewcontent/Kim_and_Koh_HE_2021_sv.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

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.