Early coverage expansions under the Affordable Care Act and Supplemental Security Income participation

Abstract

Abstract We test whether early Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid expansions in Connecticut (CT), Minnesota (MN), California (CA), and the District of Columbia (DC) affected Supplemental Security Income (SSI) receipt. We use a synthetic control approach, comparing the SSI receipt rate pre and post each early Medicaid expansion (“Early Expanders”) to the weighted receipt rate in states that expanded Medicaid in January 2014 (“Later Expanders”). In CT, the Medicaid expansion is associated with a statistically significant, 7 percent reduction in SSI beneficiaries among individuals aged 18–64. For DC, MN and CA, we do not find consistent evidence that the Medicaid expansions affected disability-related outcomes.