This study examines the effect of minimum wage hikes on the shares of uninsured people during the period 2008–2018. Despite some concern that higher minimum wages would lead to higher uninsured rates by (1) reducing employment, (2) inducing employers to stop offering health insurance to their employees, and (3) making minimum wage workers ineligible for Medicaid by increasing their earnings, the findings indicate that the uninsured rate tends to decrease with higher minimum wages, suggesting that minimum wage hikes might encourage minimum-wage workers to obtain health insurance. The effects appear to come from minimum wage hikes that occurred after the Affordable Care Act (ACA) took effect in 2014, suggesting that higher minimum wages combined with federal subsidies for the ACA marketplace and the individual mandate might have contributed to a reduction in the uninsured rate. However, Medicaid expansions seem to mitigate the effect of the minimum wage on the uninsured rate among low-income households.

本研究考察了 2008 年至 2018 年期间最低工资上涨对未参保人群比例的影响。尽管有人担心提高最低工资会导致更高的未投保率：(1) 减少就业，(2) 诱使雇主停止向其雇员提供健康保险，以及 (3) 通过增加收入使最低工资工人没有资格获得医疗补助，调查结果表明，未参保率往往随着最低工资的提高而下降，这表明提高最低工资可能会鼓励最低工资工人获得医疗保险。影响似乎来自 2014 年《平价医疗法案》(ACA) 生效后发生的最低工资上涨，表明更高的最低工资加上对 ACA 市场和个人授权的联邦补贴可能有助于降低未保险率。然而，医疗补助的扩张似乎减轻了最低工资对低收入家庭未参保率的影响。