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The Effect of Health Insurance on Emergency Department Visits: Evidence from an Age-Based Eligibility Threshold

Michael Anderson¹; Carlos Dobkin²; Tal Gross³

¹ UC Berkeley and NBER · ² UC Santa Cruz and NBER · ³ Columbia University and NBER

Abstract Health insurance affects the rate at which individuals visit hospitals and emergency departments (EDs). We identify the causal effect of losing health insurance using a regression discontinuity design. We compare individuals just before and after their twenty third birthday, which insurers have used as a cutoff after which students are no longer eligible for their parents' health insurance: 1.5% of young adults lose their health insurance upon turning 23, and this transition leads to a 1.6% decrease in ED visits and a 0.8% decrease in hospital stays. We discuss why these estimates are larger than those observed among teenage populations.

DOI

10.1162/rest_a_00378

Volume

96 (1)

Pages

189-195

Language

en

Export

BibTeX

Sources

crossref openalex