Early impact of the Affordable Care Act on health insurance coverage of young adults.

ABSTRACT:

Research objective

To evaluate one of the first implemented provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), which permits young adults up to age 26 to enroll as dependents on a parent's private health plan. Nearly one-in-three young adults lacked coverage before the ACA. STUDY DESIGN, METHODS, AND DATA: Data from the Current Population Survey 2005-2011 are used to estimate linear probability models within a difference-in-differences framework to estimate how the ACA affected coverage of eligible young adults compared to slightly older adults. Multivariate models control for individual characteristics, economic trends, and prior state-dependent coverage laws.

Principal findings

This ACA provision led to a rapid and substantial increase in the share of youn

SUBMITTER: Cantor JC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3513605 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature