TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Courtemanche, Charles
AU  - Marton, James
AU  - Ukert, Benjamin
AU  - Yelowitz, Aaron
AU  - Zapata, Daniela
        TI  - Early Effects of the Affordable Care Act on Health Care Access, Risky Health Behaviors, and Self-Assessed Health
        PY  - 2017/Mar/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 10649
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp10649
        AB  - The goal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was to achieve nearly universal health insurance coverage through a combination of mandates, subsidies, marketplaces, and Medicaid expansions, most of which took effect in 2014. We use data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to examine the impacts of the ACA on health care access, risky health behaviors, and self-assessed health after two years. We estimate difference-in-difference-in-differences models that exploit variation in treatment intensity from state participation in the Medicaid expansion and pre-ACA uninsured rates. 
Results suggest that the ACA led to sizeable improvements in access to health care in both Medicaid expansion and non-expansion states, with the gains being larger in expansion states along some dimensions. No statistically significant effects on risky behaviors or self-assessed health emerge for the full sample. However, we find some evidence that the ACA improved self-assessed health among older non-elderly adults, particularly in expansion states.
        KW  - obesity
KW  - health
KW  - Medicaid
KW  - health insurance
KW  - Affordable Care Act
KW  - smoking
KW  - drinking
        ER  -