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Child Support and the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid Expansions

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  • Lindsey Rose Bullinger

Abstract

A quickly developing literature has shown that the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) Medicaid expansions have improved health insurance coverage, health, and financial well‐being among low‐income adults without dependent children. This population includes noncustodial parents. With substantial overlap in the population that is typically obligated to pay child support and the population that has strongly benefited from the expansions, there may be potential implications for child support enforcement. In this paper, I examine the effect of public health insurance eligibility to low‐income adults on child support outcomes. I find that the ACA Medicaid expansions increased child support distributed to custodial families as arrears by 8.5 percent. Evidence also suggests current support distributions increased by about 2 percent. There were no significant effects on paying toward a child support order. Among unmarried mothers, the likelihood of child support receipt increased by 8 percent. These results imply that access to public health insurance can increase the ability of noncustodial parents to pay child support.

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  • Lindsey Rose Bullinger, 2021. "Child Support and the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid Expansions," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(1), pages 42-77, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:40:y:2021:i:1:p:42-77
    DOI: 10.1002/pam.22238
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    1. Victoria Perez & Julio A. Ramos Pastrana, 2023. "Finding fraud: enforcement, detection, and recoveries after the ACA," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 393-409, September.
    2. Margaret Gough Courtney, 2023. "Did the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid Expansion Change Cohabitation Trends?," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(3), pages 1-26, June.
    3. Louis‐Philippe Beland & Jason Huh & Dongwoo Kim, 2021. "The effect of Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansions on foster care admissions," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(11), pages 2943-2951, November.
    4. Lindsey Rose Bullinger & Maithreyi Gopalan & Caitlin McPherran Lombardi, 2023. "Impacts of publicly funded health insurance for adults on children's academic achievement," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 89(3), pages 860-884, January.
    5. Aparna Soni & Lindsey Bullinger & Christina Andrews & Amanda Abraham & Kosali Simon, 2024. "The impact of state Medicaid eligibility and benefits policy on neonatal abstinence syndrome hospitalizations," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 42(1), pages 25-40, January.
    6. Louis-Philippe Beland & Jason Huh & Dongwoo Kim, 2021. "The Effect of ACA Medicaid Expansions on Foster Care Admissions," Carleton Economic Papers 21-07, Carleton University, Department of Economics.
    7. Matt Hampton & Otto Lenhart, 2022. "The effect of the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion on marriage," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(2), pages 568-591, April.

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