Does the ACA Medicaid Expansion Encourage Labor Market Exits of Older Workers?

In this study, I examine the effects of the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion on the labor supply decisions of non-disabled, low-educated, childless adults ages 50-64. I employ a triple-differences (DDD) methodology, exploiting variation in individuals’ health insurance status and the expansion decisions of states. I find that with Medicaid expansion, insured workers without retirement health insurance (RHI) decreased full-time work by 7.06 percentage points relative to those with RHI and those without any employer-sponsored coverage at all. Among those no longer working full-time, 82 percent transitioned to complete retirement.