Impact of Medicaid Expansion on Insurance Coverage for Sexual Minority Adults

• In Event: Uneven Impacts of Universal Policies related to Health and Economic Equity

Abstract

Over the past two decades, disparities in insurance coverage between heterosexual and sexual minority (SM) adults have declined. Using data from Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) from 2014-2023, we used staggered difference-in-difference analysis to assess whether Medicaid expansion increased differentially insurance coverage among SM adults. We find no evidence that Medicaid expansion differentially impacted health insurance coverage for SM relative to non-SM individuals. While insurance coverage increased for SM individuals, results do not confirm that this was driven by Medicaid Expansion. However, there are likely heterogenous treatment effects across SM groups, which we are unable to examine; therefore, we cannot conclude that Medicaid Expansion did not contribute to insurance gains for some SM groups. Additional data with robust measurement of SM identity and insurance over this period are needed to accurately capture the impact of Medicaid Expansion on SM insurance coverage.

Authors

• Sarah Petry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  Presenting Author

• David M Anderson, University of South Carolina
  Non-Presenting Co-Author