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Did the Affordable Care Act Young Adult Provision Affect Labor Market Outcomes? Analysis Using Tax Data

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  • Bradley Heim
  • Ithai Lurie
  • Kosali Simon

Abstract

We study the impact of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) young adult dependent coverage requirement on labor market-related outcomes, including measures of employment status, job characteristics, and post-secondary education, using a data set of U.S. tax records spanning 2008-2013. We find that the ACA provision did not result in substantial changes in labor market outcomes. Our results show that employment and self-employment were not statistically significantly affected. While we find some evidence of increased likelihood of young adults earning lower wages, not receiving fringe benefits, enrolling as full-time or graduate students, and young men being self-employed, the magnitudes imply extremely small impacts on these outcomes in absolute terms and when compared to other estimates in the literature. These results are consistent with health insurance being less salient to young adults when making labor market decisions compared to other populations.

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  • Bradley Heim & Ithai Lurie & Kosali Simon, 2017. "Did the Affordable Care Act Young Adult Provision Affect Labor Market Outcomes? Analysis Using Tax Data," NBER Working Papers 23471, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23471
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    Cited by:

    1. Larrimore, Jeff & Splinter, David, 2019. "How much does health insurance cost? Comparison of premiums in administrative and survey data," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 132-135.
    2. Fone, Zachary S. & Friedson, Andrew I. & Lipton, Brandy & Sabia, Joseph J., 2020. "The Dependent Coverage Mandate Took a Bite Out of Crime," IZA Discussion Papers 12968, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Jun Yeong Lee & John V. Winters, 2022. "State Medicaid Expansion and the Self-Employed," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 925-954, October.
    4. Laura Connolly & Matt Hampton & Otto Lenhart, 2024. "Labor mobility and the Affordable Care Act: Heterogeneous impacts of the preexisting conditions provision," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(1), pages 157-191, January.
    5. Pinka Chatterji & Xiangshi Liu & Barış K. Yörük, 2019. "Effects of the 2010 Affordable Care Act Dependent Care Provision on Military Participation Among Young Adults," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 45(1), pages 87-111, January.
    6. Nathan Blascak & Vyacheslav Mikhed, 2023. "Health Insurance and Young Adult Financial Distress," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(2), pages 393-423, March.
    7. Gicheva, Dora & Anand, Priyanka, 2020. "The Impact of the ACA Medicaid Expansions on the Employment and Academic Progress of College Students," UNCG Economics Working Papers 20-3, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics.
    8. Tom Potoms & Sarah Rosenberg, 2024. "Public insurance and marital outcomes: Evidence from the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansions," IFS Working Papers W24/53, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    9. Michael S. Kofoed & Wyatt J. Frasier, 2019. "[Job] Locked and [Un]loaded: The Effect of the Affordable Care Act Dependency Mandate on Reenlistment in the U.S. Army," Upjohn Working Papers 19-300, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    10. Maclean, Johanna Catherine & Webber, Douglas, 2022. "Government regulation and wages: Evidence from continuing coverage mandates," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    11. Maclean, J. Catherine & Webber, Douglas A., 2019. "Government Regulation and Lifecycle Wages: Evidence from Continuing Coverage Mandates," IZA Discussion Papers 12464, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Pinka Chatterji & Xiangshi Liu & Barış K. Yörük, 2019. "The effects of the 2010 Affordable Care Act dependent care provision on family structure and public program participation among young adults," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 1133-1161, December.
    13. Laura E. T. Swan, 2023. "Policy impacts on contraceptive access in the United States: a scoping review," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 1-72, March.
    14. James Bailey & Dhaval Dave, 2019. "The Effect of the Affordable Care Act on Entrepreneurship among Older Adults," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 45(1), pages 141-159, January.
    15. Richard J. Paulsen & Rajendra Dulal, 2024. "Health insurance access and the career choices of college graduates with majors in the arts: evidence from the affordable care act’s dependent coverage expansion," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 48(3), pages 367-385, September.
    16. Heim, Bradley T. & Hunter, Gillian & Isen, Adam & Lurie, Ithai Z. & Ramnath, Shanthi P., 2021. "Income Responses to the Affordable Care Act: Evidence from a Premium Tax Credit Notch," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    17. Rajashri Chakrabarti & Maxim Pinkovskiy, 2019. "The Affordable Care Act and the Market for Higher Education," CESifo Working Paper Series 7869, CESifo.

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    JEL classification:

    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

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