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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Mental Health Is Wealth Too: Did The Affordable Care Act Medicaid Expansion Improve Mental Health Outcomes?, Dereck Wang Jun 2022

Mental Health Is Wealth Too: Did The Affordable Care Act Medicaid Expansion Improve Mental Health Outcomes?, Dereck Wang

Honors Theses

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has greatly exacerbated mental health, which has long been a growing problem in the United States; poor mental health not only jeopardizes the well-being of Americans but also has severe implications for America’s economy. Not only do mental health conditions have significant costs of treatment, but the absenteeism, presenteeism, early retirement, and mortality stemming from poor mental health also severely impact productivity. One health policy that could alleviate this problem is Medicaid expansion. The Affordable Care Act gave states the choice to expand Medicaid eligibility for individuals with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty …


How Did Medicaid Expansion Affect The Provider Labor Market?, Aaron Wu Jun 2020

How Did Medicaid Expansion Affect The Provider Labor Market?, Aaron Wu

Honors Theses

One provision of the Affordable Care Act was to expand Medicaid eligibility for a greater number of low-income patients. The resulting increase in demand for care was largely explored, but the effect of the 2014 Medicaid expansion on the physician and advanced practitioner labor market has not been well researched by economists. Using pooled cross-sectional data from the 2010 – 2018 American Community Surveys, this paper examines whether the Medicaid expansion has caused notable changes in physician, physician assistant, and nurse practitioner hours, compensation, and overall employment. The literature shows that practices that employ nurse practitioners are far more likely …


Universal Healthcare: Solution Or Delusion? Comparing Medicare For All, Public Option, And Business-As-Usual Models Among U.S. Democratic Presidential Candidates, Elizabeth Pinchman Jun 2020

Universal Healthcare: Solution Or Delusion? Comparing Medicare For All, Public Option, And Business-As-Usual Models Among U.S. Democratic Presidential Candidates, Elizabeth Pinchman

Honors Theses

How much longer can the United States remain the only developed country without universal health insurance? While the U.S. leads the world in healthcare costs per capita, it trails behind in access and quality measures. Many Americans live in fear of medical bankruptcy, especially the twenty-six million people who remain uninsured. The Democratic presidential candidates vying for the nomination in 2020 have released plans to resolve these problems and bring the nation closer to universal coverage.

Through the analysis of proposed actions, plan feasibility, and expected impact, the candidates’ suggestions have been evaluated within the context of the United States. …


An Examination Of The Association Between State Medicaid Perinatal Services And Birth Outcomes, Joy Morgan Myers May 2020

An Examination Of The Association Between State Medicaid Perinatal Services And Birth Outcomes, Joy Morgan Myers

Honors Theses

This thesis investigated the connection between socioeconomic status, healthcare coverage, and birth outcomes. The research question that was posed specifically looked at twenty perinatal services that states covered under Medicaid to varying degrees to see their association, if any, with premature birth rates and low birthweight rates. State-level and Mississippi county-level data were compiled regarding preterm birth rates, low birthweight rates, presumptive eligibility adoption, and coverage of twenty different perinatal services. Using these data, the correlation between state Medicaid expansion status and birth outcomes was first calculated in order to determine if variation in birth outcomes was associated with expanded …


Medicaid Work Requirements: State-Based Innovation Or Punitive Policymaking?, Diane Sherwin Mar 2019

Medicaid Work Requirements: State-Based Innovation Or Punitive Policymaking?, Diane Sherwin

Honors Theses

In March 2017, officials appointed to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services by President Donald Trump signaled to state governments their intent to support states who would choose to utilize Medicaid’s Section 1115 waiver provision to alter their state’s Medicaid program by introducing a work requirement. As of October 1, 2018, 13 states have heeded this signal and proposed a work requirement component for their Medicaid programs. The purpose of this paper is to determine if Medicaid work requirements are an innovative policy approach to improve independence among Medicaid enrollees, or if these requirements are a punitive, partisan approach …


The Effect Of Aca Medicaid Expansion On People’S Retirement Decision, William Christopher Mar 2018

The Effect Of Aca Medicaid Expansion On People’S Retirement Decision, William Christopher

Honors Theses

As of January 2018, thirty-three states have adopted the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid expansion. There is an emerging literature to study the effects of ACA Medicaid expansion on various outcomes, such as insurance coverage, health status, and labor supply. For example, a study from the Congressional Box Office projects that the U.S. labor supply will decrease 1.5-2% from 2017 to 2024 because of this expansion. In a recent paper, Ayyagari (2017) argues that because employer sponsored retiree benefits are declining and Medicaid coverage is expanding, retirement age will decrease by 3.6 to 7.2 months. In this paper, I use …