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We study the financial effects of health insurance for young adults using the Affordable Care Act's dependent coverage mandate as a source of exogenous variation. Using nationally representative, anonymized credit report and publicly available survey data on medical expenditures, we exploit the mandate's implementation in 2010 and its automatic disenrollment mechanism at age 26. Our estimates show that increasing access to health insurance lowered young adults' out-of-pocket medical expenditures, debt in third-party collections, and the probability of personal bankruptcy. However, most improvements in financial outcomes are transitory, as they diminish after an individual ages out of the mandate at age 26.

We analyze whether the passage of the A ffordable C are A ct's dependent coverage m andate in 2010 reduced financial distress for young adults. U sing nationally r epresentative, anonymized consumer credit r eport information, w e find that young adults covered by the m andate lowered their past due debt, had fewer delinquencies, and had a r educed probability of filing for bankruptcy. These effects are stronger in geographic areas that experienced higher uninsured rates for young adults prior to the mandate's implementation. Our estimates also show that some improvements are transitory because they diminish after an individual ages out of the mandate at age 26.

This paper examines how a negative shock to the security of personal finances due to severe identity theft changes consumer credit behavior. Using a unique data set of consumer credit records and alerts indicating identity theft and the exogenous timing of victimization, we show that the immediate effects of fraud on credit files are typically negative, small, and transitory. After those immediate effects fade, identity theft victims experience persistent, positive changes in credit characteristics, including improved Risk Scores. Consumers also exhibit caution with credit by having fewer open revolving accounts while maintaining total balances and credit limits. Our results are consistent with consumer inattention to credit reports prior to identity theft and reduced trust in credit card markets after identity theft.

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