conclusion
23
of health insurance coverage.
While t
he long run effect of health insurance
on health
is an
important research question
, it is
beyond the scope of this paper.
To our knowledge, little
convincing evidence exi
sts that can quantify the extent to which coverage affects health in
the long run.
Nevertheless, a substantial share of the uninsured are without coverage for a short period of
time. Among the currently uninsured, 25 percent have been uninsured for less t
han one year,
and 45 percent have been uninsured for less than three years.
43
Our estimates apply directly
to this large group of the “recently uninsured.”
8.
C
ONCLUSION
We leverage a sharp discontinuity in health insurance coverage that occurs when dependen
ts
age out of their parents’ insurance plans at age 19
. By exploiting that discontinuity, we
estimate the effects of health insurance coverage on utilization of care. We find that losing
health insurance coverage reduces utilization of
both
emergency depar
tment care and
inpatient care. The estimated
responses
are large
–
a 10 percent
age point
decrease in the
insurance coverage rate among ED patients reduces ED visits by 4.
0
percent, and a 10
percent
age point
decrease in the insurance coverage rate among hos
pital patients reduces
hospital visits by 6.
1
percent.
The reduction in hospital visits is stronger for non
-
urgent
admissions, and the reductions in ED and hospital visits are concentrated among for
-
profit
and non
-
profit hospitals, as opposed to public hos
pitals.