Publication Date

12-30-2016

Summary

This brief uses administrative income tax data coupled with survey responses from roughly 5,000 households living near the poverty line to estimate how access to the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance Marketplaces have affected households’ experiences of extreme illiquidity, which is measured by delinquencies on home payments. To estimate this relationship, we exploit a natural experiment underway in states that did not expand Medicaid and created by the eligibility rules for Marketplace subsidies. Results suggest that insured households living near the poverty line are better able to make timely rent and mortgage payments compared with similar, uninsured households. Given housing instability’s well-documented links with downstream financial and developmental outcomes, findings presented in this brief suggest that the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance programs have improved the short-term financial well-being of low- and moderate-income households in a way that may have longer term implications.

Document Type

Research Brief

Category

Financial Inclusion

Subarea

Financial Behaviors

Original Citation

Gallagher, E. A., Gopalan, R., Grinstein-Weiss, M., Roll, S. P., & Davison, G. (2017, January). Home delinquency rates are lower among ACA Marketplace households: Evidence from a natural experiment (CSD Research Brief No. 17-01). St. Louis, MO: Washington University, Center for Social Development.

Project

Refund to Savings (R2S)

Keywords

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of, Medicaid, housing, housing and well-being, Refund to Savings (RS), Household Financial Survey (HFS), tax credit, TurboTax Freedom Edition, Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), economic resources, federal policy, health insurance, homeownership, inequality, institutional features, institutional support, policy, policy design, poverty, social policy, state policy, United States, well-being

Download

Share

COinS