The Impact of Medicaid Expansion on Household Consumption

We use data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey for 2010 through 2016 to compare trends in insurance coverage and consumption for household that did and did not expand eligibility for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act in 2014. Consistent with earlier studies, we find significant increases in Medicaid coverage in expansion relative to non-expansion states, and we find small but significant reductions in quarterly health spending of about $60, or just less than one-quarter of the baseline value. We find no significant change in non-health consumption as a result of Medicaid expansion.