Health Affairs January, 2021
ABSTRACT
Income inequality estimates based on traditional poverty measures do not capture the effects of health care spending and health insurance. To explore the distributional effects of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) expansion of health benefits and the resulting income inequality, this study used alternative income measures that incorporate the value of the ACA’s health insurance changes under the law. The study simulated the impact of the ACA on income inequality in 2019 compared with a scenario without the ACA. We found that the ACA...