Date of Award

Spring 2017

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Major

Economics

First Advisor

Nichole Szembrot

Abstract

In this project, I use a mediation analysis to examine how the partisanship of a state affects how the state implements the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and, as a result, constituents’ access to health insurance. I construct an annual panel dataset from 2010 to 2015. Controlling for state demographic variables, states with Democrat governors and legislatures are more likely to implement the Medicaid expansion component of the law and a state-based exchange. States that implement the Medicaid expansion experience additional pre to post-ACA decreases in the uninsured rate and the proportion of people who get their insurance through a direct purchase and additional increases in the proportion of people covered through Medicaid than non-expansion states. Partisanship does not have a direct effect on pre to post-ACA health insurance outcomes changes; any effect partisanship has strictly comes indirectly through its effect on implementation of the ACA.

Comments

Senior thesis completed at Trinity College, Hartford Connecticut for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Economics.

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