Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Public insurance and marital outcomes: Evidence from the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansions

Potoms, Tom and Rosenberg, Sarah LU (2024) In Working paper 24(53).
Abstract
Public insurance may disincentivize marriage, but for whom? Using the American Community Survey, we find that an increased likelihood of Medicaid eligibility owing to the Affordable Care Act reduces marriage rates, particularly among people with higher education levels. We develop a search model of the marriage market that shows that those with a high expected financial surplus from marriage respond more to public insurance, as it provides an outside option against financial risk. These findings suggest a new hypothesis for the marriage gap across the socioeconomic spectrum: a larger material surplus from marriage increases willingness to marry, even with lower match quality.
Abstract (Swedish)
Offentliga försäkringar kan göra äktenskap mindre sannolik, men för vem? Med hjälp av American Community Survey finner vi att en ökad sannolikhet att vara berättigad till offentlig hälsoförsäkring på grund av lagförändringar minskar giftermålsfrekvensen, särskilt bland personer med högre utbildningsnivåer. Vi utvecklar en sökmodell av äktenskapsmarknaden som visar att de med ett högt förväntat ekonomiskt överskott från äktenskapet svarar mer på offentliga försäkringar, eftersom det ger ett externt alternativ mot finansiell risk. Dessa fynd tyder på en ny hypotes för äktenskapsklyftan över det socioekonomiska spektrumet: ett större materiellt överskott från äktenskapet ökar viljan att gifta sig, även med lägre matchkvalitet.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
alternative title
Offentlig försäkring och giftemål: Evidens från expansionen av hälsoförsäkring i USA
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
in
Working paper
volume
24
issue
53
publisher
Institute for Fiscal Studies
DOI
10.1920/wp.ifs.2024.5324
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
15063ddb-0f7a-4b0a-a4a7-1517327af617
date added to LUP
2025-03-25 10:38:36
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:07:12
@misc{15063ddb-0f7a-4b0a-a4a7-1517327af617,
  abstract     = {{Public insurance may disincentivize marriage, but for whom? Using the American Community Survey, we find that an increased likelihood of Medicaid eligibility owing to the Affordable Care Act reduces marriage rates, particularly among people with higher education levels. We develop a search model of the marriage market that shows that those with a high expected financial surplus from marriage respond more to public insurance, as it provides an outside option against financial risk. These findings suggest a new hypothesis for the marriage gap across the socioeconomic spectrum: a larger material surplus from marriage increases willingness to marry, even with lower match quality.}},
  author       = {{Potoms, Tom and Rosenberg, Sarah}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{11}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  number       = {{53}},
  publisher    = {{Institute for Fiscal Studies}},
  series       = {{Working paper}},
  title        = {{Public insurance and marital outcomes: Evidence from the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansions}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1920/wp.ifs.2024.5324}},
  doi          = {{10.1920/wp.ifs.2024.5324}},
  volume       = {{24}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}