Medicaid Expansion and Mental Health Treatment: Evidence from the Affordable Care Act

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This study uses a difference-in-differences design within an event-study framework to examine how state decisions to expand Medicaid following the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) affected mental health treatment. The findings suggest that expansion states experienced increased admissions to mental health treatment facilities and Medicaid-reimbursed prescriptions for medications used to treat common forms of mental illness. The results also indicate an increase in admissions with trauma, anxiety, conduct, and depression disorders. There is also suggestive evidence of an increase in the number of mental health treatment facilities accepting Medicaid as a form of payment. Lastly, as with previous studies, I find weak evidence of a decrease in suicides in Medicaid expansion states.

Ortega, Alberto. “Medicaid Expansion and mental health treatment: Evidence from the Affordable Care Act.” Health Economics 32, no. 4 (2023): 755-806.