RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 In Sickness and in Health: Interaction Effects of State and Federal Health Insurance Coverage Mandates on Marriage of Young Adults
JF Journal of Human Resources
JO J Hum Resour
FD University of Wisconsin Press
DO 10.3368/jhr.57.2.0118-9295R2
A1 Scott Barkowski
A1 Joanne Song McLaughlin
YR 2020
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2020/03/03/jhr.57.2.0118-9295R2.abstract
AB We study the interaction of state and federal dependent health insurance mandates on young adult marriages. Using a new dataset on state-level mandates, we show marriage restrictions of these laws reduced marriage likelihoods by about two percentage points. When the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted, its mandate ended marriage restrictions, encouraging marriage among those previously eligible for state mandates. However, among those ineligible for state mandates, it discouraged marrying to obtain insurance through spouses. The combination of these contrasting ACA effects eliminated the marriage gap. We also find these marriage effects resulted in corresponding impacts on out-of-wedlock births.