Medicaid Expansion and Household Financial Security
Co-funded with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The financial burden imposed by illness affects not only health but also standard of living. The Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was expected to improve the financial situation of the uninsured, particularly those with low incomes. Economist Emily Gallagher and public policy expert Stephen Roll will examine the relationship between the ACA and the financial security of households with incomes of below 200 percent of the federal poverty line. They will use quasi-experimental techniques to measure the causal effects of the expansion of Medicaid and the provision of subsidies to purchase marketplace insurance on the finances of low-income households. They will analyze the extent to which expanded health insurance affected low-income households’ ability to make timely rent and mortgage payments; these households’ experiences of unexpected income shocks throughout the year; and their savings decisions.