Essays on Health Policy

In this dissertation, I study the effects of health policy. In the first chapter, I study whether households reduce their earnings to qualify for Medicaid benefits. I estimate that households are willing to reduce their earnings up to $860 to qualify for benefits and I use this to estimate the cash-equivalent value of Medicaid. I find that households would be willing to pay $614 for Medicaid benefits. The second chapter studies the relationship between Stand Your Ground laws and crime rates. Stand Your Ground laws allow individuals to use lethal force to defend themselves from danger, and I find that these laws increase crime rates. Finally, in the third chapter, I document the effects of the Medicaid expansions in 2014 on divorce rates. I find that the Medicaid expansions led to a 3% increase in the divorce rate.