Lifetime Consequences of Early and Midlife Access to Health Insurance: A Review

This article reviews the literature on how health insurance affects health and economic outcomes in the United States prior to automatic Medicare eligibility at age 65, with the aim of providing a snapshot of the breadth of the existing evidence. A targeted approach was used to identify and review experimental or quasi-experimental articles deemed most likely to identify the causal impact of health insurance. Results were systematically reviewed by outcome category–ranging from mental health to education—and population of interest—ranging from prenatal to preretired. The effects of health insurance on economic outcomes remain inconclusive despite being well-studied, while evidence on the relationship between health insurance and several aspects of health has strengthened over the last decade.