Replication Data for: Young Invincibles to young Insurables: Insurance take up by the healthy, wealthy and employed

Abstract

One of the fundamental provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the allowance that people 26 or under may remain under their parents' health insurance policies. Based on data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) we use difference-in-differences estimate to examine whether the ACA enactment increased insurance uptake among the young. Furthermore, we evaluate the heterogeneous uptake patterns across health status, wealth quintiles and employment status. Our results show that the ACA led to an increase in insurance coverage among those between the ages of 19 and 25. More importantly, the results suggest that insurance uptake was higher in the wealthy and health population. Our findings highlight the success of ACA in increasing overall coverage and increasing the participation of well off individuals in the insurance risk pools. Notwithstanding, the reform did not increase the protection of the already less healthy and poor, and the magnitude of increased uptake are modest. This study emphasizes the role that governments have in addressing important insurance market failures; nevertheless future reforms should seek to increase coverage of those less well off