New Evidence of the ACA’s Effect on People with Disabilities: Health Insurance, Employment, and Benefits

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 changed several aspects of the law concerning access to health insurance that were particularly salient for people with disabilities. These changes included removing limits on preexisting conditions, extending parent’s health insurance coverage of young adults until the age of 26, expanding Medicaid to more adults with low incomes, and making it easier to obtain affordable coverage outside the traditional employer-sponsored benefit system.

Mathematica’s Center for Studying Disability Policy hosted a webinar on February 7, 2019, from noon to 1:30 p.m. ET to discuss new evidence that sheds light on the ACA’s many effects on people with disabilities. The webinar provided new answers to the following questions:

• Were the ACA Medicaid expansions in 2014 associated with changes in employment among adults with disabilities?
• How did the insurance coverage of employed adults with disabilities change around the time of the ACA, and how did those changes compare with those of other adults with and without disabilities?
• Did the extension of dependent coverage until age 26 alter young adults’ decision to seek Supplemental Security Income?

Speakers included the following:

Jody Schimmel Hyde, Mathematica (moderator)

Purvi Sevak, Mathematica

Anna Hill, Mathematica

Michael Levere, Mathematica

Bonnie O’Day, consultant (discussant)