Researcher ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0009-0008-1843-951X

Graduation Year

2025

Date of Submission

11-2024

Document Type

Open Access Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Economics

Reader 1

Jessamyn Schaller, Ph.D.

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Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© 2024 Kaavya Narayan

Abstract

This thesis examines the impact of Medicaid expansion status on labor market outcomes, healthcare access, and health outcomes during COVID-19. Using data from the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and a Difference-in-Differences (DiD) model, I estimate the effects of Medicaid expansion on unemployment, financial barriers to care, obesity, and poor health before and after the pandemic. The analysis also accounts for state-level political and demographic characteristics, gender, marital status, and education level. My results show that non-expansion states, relative to expansion states of similar political and demographic breakdowns, are significantly more disadvantaged in terms of obesity, poor health, financial barriers to care, and unemployment after COVID-19. Additionally, during this time, Black and Hispanic individuals in non-expansion states appear more likely to be obese–though future research needs to explore these differences. These findings have important implications for policymakers as expanding Medicaid or supporting public healthcare infrastructure could improve health outcomes and support economic recovery during times of shock. Moreover, interventions that target social determinants of health are crucial to address racial disparities in healthcare that cannot be resolved solely through federal healthcare infrastructure.

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