Association Between Medicaid Expansion and Suicide Mortality Among Nonelderly US Adults

Abstract

Abstract In 2014, the Affordable Care Act gave states the option to expand Medicaid coverage to nonelderly adults (persons aged 18–64 years) with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level. To our knowledge, the association of Medicaid expansion with suicide, a leading cause of death in the United States, has not been examined. We used 2005–2017 data from the National Violent Death Reporting System to analyze suicide mortality in 8 Medicaid expansion states and 7 nonexpansion states. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we examined the association between Medicaid expansion and the rate of suicide death (number of deaths per 100,000 population) among nonelderly adults. After adjustment for state-level confounders, Medicaid expansion states had 1.2 fewer suicide deaths (β = −1.2, 95% confidence interval: –2.5, 0.1) per 100,000 population per year during the postexpansion period than would have been expected if they had followed the same trend in suicide rates as nonexpansion states. Medicaid expansion was associated with reductions in suicide rates among women, men, persons aged 30–44 years, non-Hispanic White individuals, and persons without a college degree. Medicaid expansion was not associated with a change in suicide rates among persons aged 18–29 or 45–64 years or among non-White or Hispanic individuals. Overall, Medicaid expansion was associated with reductions in rates of suicide death among nonelderly adults. Further research on inequities in Medicaid expansion benefits is needed.