Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-1-2020
Publication Title
American Journal of Health Economics
Abstract
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) expanded the availability of public health insurance, decreasing the relative benefit of participating in disability programs but also lowering the cost of exiting the labor market to apply for disability benefits. In this paper, we explore the impact of expanded access to Medicaid through the ACA on applications to the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) programs. Using the fact that the Supreme Court decision of June 2012 made the Medicaid expansion optional for the states, we compare changes in county-level SSI and SSDI caseloads in contiguous county pairs across a state border. We find no significant effects of the Medicaid expansion on applications or awards to either SSI or SSDI, and can reject economically meaningful impacts of Medicaid expansions on applications to disability programs.
Keywords
Affordable CareAct, Disability benefits, Health insurance, Medicaid, Social Security Disability Insurance, Supplemental Security Income
Volume
6
Issue
4
First Page
444
Last Page
476
DOI
10.1086/710525
ISSN
23323493
Recommended Citation
Schmidt, Lucie; Shore-Sheppard, Lara D.; and Watson, Tara, "The Impact of the ACA Medicaid Expansion on Disability Program Applications" (2020). Economics: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/eco_facpubs/79
Comments
Archived as published.