Did the Affordable Care Act's Dependent Coverage Expansion Affect Race/Ethnic Disparities in Health Insurance Coverage?

Joshua Breslau, Bing Han, Bradley D. Stein, Rachel M. Burns, Hao Yu

ResearchPosted on rand.org Aug 1, 2017Published in: Health Services Research, [Epub June 2017]. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.12728

Objective

To test the impact of the dependent coverage expansion (DCE) on insurance disparities across race/ethnic groups.

Data Sources/Study Setting

Survey data from the National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH).

Study Design

Triple-difference (DDD) models were applied to repeated cross-sectional surveys of the U.S. adult population.

Data Collection/Extraction Methods

Data from 6 years (2008–2013) of the NSDUH were combined.

Principal Findings

Following the DCE, the relative odds of insurance increased 1.5 times (95 percent CI 1.1, 1.9) among whites compared to blacks and 1.4 times (95 percent CI 1.1, 1.8) among whites compared to Hispanics.

Conclusions

Health reform efforts, such as the DCE, can have negative effects on race/ethnic disparities, despite positive impacts in the general population.

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Topics

Document Details

  • Copyright: Health Research and Educational Trust
  • Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
  • Availability: Non-RAND
  • Year: 2017
  • Pages: 13
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.7249/pubs
  • Document Number: EP-67252

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