We provide new evidence that weight-related outcomes improved for the severely obese following three recent health insurance expansions. Using Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data from 2001 through 2016, we examine the effects of Massachusetts health care reform, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) dependent coverage mandate, and the ACA Medicaid expansion on Body Mass Index (BMI) and the likelihood of obesity or severe obesity. Estimates from unconditional quantile regression show that Body Mass Index (BMI) fell among the severely obese who are at the top of the distribution of BMI following all three of these insurance expansions. We also observe a robust reduction in the likelihood of severe obesity following the ACA dependent coverage mandate, and suggestive evidence of a reduction in severe obesity following Massachusetts health care reform. Together, these results identify an important benefit arising from recent health insurance expansions: improved weight-related outcomes for those with severe obesity.

我们提供了新的证据，表明在最近进行了三次健康保险扩展之后，与重度肥胖有关的结局得到了改善。使用2001年至2016年的行为风险因素监视系统（BRFSS）数据，我们研究了马萨诸塞州医疗保健改革，《负担得起的医疗法案》（ACA）的承保范围要求以及ACA医疗补助对体重指数（BMI）和肥胖或严重肥胖的可能性。根据无条件分位数回归进行的估计表明，在所有这三种保险扩张之后，重度肥胖者中的体重指数（BMI）均处于BMI分布的顶部。我们还观察到，在ACA依赖的承保范围内，严重肥胖的可能性大大降低，以及马萨诸塞州医疗保健改革后严重肥胖症减轻的暗示性证据。总之，这些结果确定了近期医疗保险扩展带来的重要好处：严重肥胖者体重相关的结局得到改善。