January 13, 2017 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm | Room 763, HSBC Business School Building

Abstract

This article examines the effects of the health insurance coverage mandate for dependents on household financial portfolio decisions by focusing on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010. Using the Survey of Income and Program Participation data, the author finds that the ACA dependent coverage mandate significantly increased (decreased) the share of stocks (bonds and other interest-accruing assets) by 2.5 (1.3 and 1.1, respectively) percentage points for households having both parental employer-sponsored health insurance and dependent children aged 19 to 25 years.