A new study out of Stanford University with help from the Internal Revenue Service shows that many Americans took advantage of the Affordable Care Act and signed up for insurance. Reviewing almost 4 million IRS filings, researchers were able to debunk Republican talking points that Americans were being victimized by the ACA’s mandated tax penalty for those who didn’t sign up for insurance. According to the Los Angeles Times, the study, considered the most “statistically valid” one to come out on the subject, also found that signing up for healthcare led to lower mortality rates.
In December 2016, the Obama administration sent out two batches of letters via the IRS to 3.9 million American households who had yet to sign up for health insurance. The letters informed the receiver of their options to sign up for affordable health care. The full number of households the Obama administration wanted to reach was 4.5 million but because of budget constraints, the IRS had to randomly select only 3.9 million. Those households are estimated to have comprised close to 9 million individuals.
The fact that the treasury department created a randomized data set for study was simply coincidental. But the results are in and it turns out that even spending a relatively small amount to remind people to sign up for health insurance saved lives.
We evaluate a randomized pilot study in which the IRS sent informational letters to 3.9 million taxpayers who paid a tax penalty for lacking health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Drawing on administrative data, we study the effect of the intervention on taxpayers’ subsequent health insurance enrollment and mortality. We find the intervention led to increased coverage in the two years following treatment and that this additional coverage reduced mortality among middle-aged adults over the same time period.
The New York Times says that researchers were able to note a reduction of 12% in the mortality rates of those between the ages of 45 and 64 within a year or two. That’s a drastic bit of evidence, but not surprising when coupled with any number of studies done over the past decade about public health and access to affordable healthcare. It also goes directly at the heart of the Trump administration’s efforts to sabotage ACA sign ups by cutting back on advertising efforts and promoting misinformation about plans.
University of Michigan professor Sarah Miller told the Times that this study is nothing to scoff at, explaining that the data is a researcher’s dream: “It’s really important that this is a randomized controlled trial. It’s a really high standard of evidence that you can’t just dismiss.”