A population-level look at subjective well-being after the 2014 Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion

Headshots of Lindsay, Onur, Yulya, and Lisa

Researchers affiliated with the Harvard Pop Center, including Director Lisa Berkman, have published a study that looks at the impact of the Medicaid expansion on subjective well-being among low-income and general adult U.S. populations. Self-perceived measures of happiness, sadness, worry, stress, and life satisfaction did not appear to be impacted by the increased access to healthcare among the low-income sector or by a spill-over effect in the general population. The findings could suggest that the subjective well-being indicators are not adequate to measure the public health impact of expanded health insurance.

Other authors of the study include recent Bell Fellows Lindsay Kobayashi and Onur Altindag, and recent Sloan Fellow on Aging and Work Yulya Truskinovsky.