ArticleInquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financing
Effects of the Affordable Care Act Medicaid Expansions on Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020-2021.
Article in Inquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financing. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 6 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mental health problems among ethnic minorities during public crises: a systematic review of coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of State Medicaid Expansions Affecting Parental Eligibility on Children's Healthcare Access and Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Maternal and child health journal · 2026Article
- Insurance-Related Disparities in Mental Health Status and Care Among Low-Income U.S. Adults, 2019-2023.Community mental health journal · 2026Article
- Employment, Income, the ACA, and Health Insurance Coverage of Working-Age Adults During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Reassessment.Health services research · 2025Article
- The Protective Role of Medicaid Expansion for Low-Income People During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Health services research · 2025Article
- Transitional Care Support for Medicaid-Insured Patients With Serious Mental Illness: Protocol for a Type I Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation Stepped-Wedge Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2024Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
To examine whether previous Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid expansions had an added effect on the mental health of low-income adults during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. We use the 2017-2021 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data. We use an event study difference-in-differences model to compare the number of days in poor mental health in the past 30 days and the likelihood of frequent mental distress among 18 to 64 year old individuals with household incomes below 100% of the federal poverty level who participated in BRFSS in one of the surveys from 2017 to 2021 and who resided in states that expanded Medicaid by 2016 or states that had not expanded by 2021. We also examine the heterogeneity of the expansion effects across subpopulation groups. We find some evidence that the Medicaid expansion was associated with better mental health during the pandemic for adults younger than 45, females, and non-Hispanic Black and other non-Hispanic non-White individuals. There is some evidence of an added benefit to mental health from Medicaid expansion status during the pandemic for some subgroups among low-income adults, suggesting potential health benefits from Medicaid eligibility during public health and economic crises.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.