Reducing Young Adults' Health Care Spending through the ACA Expansion of Dependent Coverage.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To estimate health care expenditure trends among young adults ages 19-25 before and after the 2010 implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) provision that extended eligibility for dependent private health insurance coverage.

Data sources

Nationally representative Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data from 2008 to 2012.

Study design

We conducted repeated cross-sectional analyses and employed a difference-in-differences quantile regression model to estimate health care expenditure trends among young adults ages 19-25 (the treatment group) and ages 27-29 (the control group).

Principal findings

Our results show that the treatment group had 14 percent lower overall health care expenditures and 21 percent lower out-of-pocket payments compared with th

SUBMITTER: Chen J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5583298 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature