The effect of insurance expansions on the advertising behavior of healthcare firms.

Medicaid expansion is one of the most important components of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) that was legislated in 2010. It contributed to the rapid decrease of the uninsured rate in the United States. We leverage proprietary data and two separate difference-in-differences research designs to causally estimate the effect of public and private insurance expansions on advertising expenditures among several key healthcare industries. Our main conclusions are: 1)Medicaid expansion causes clinics in a DMA to cut down about 77 thousand dollars on TV ads spending per season. That is to say, the total amount TV ads spending reduced by clinics is around 25 million in a year due to the Medicaid expansion. 2)Medicaid expansion causes hospitals in a DMA to cut down 32 thousand dollars on outdoor ads spending per season. That is to say, the total amount TV ads spending reduced by hospitals is around 12 million in a year due to the Medicaid expansion. 3) After private insurance expansion, in a DMA, clinics TV ads spending increase by 8269 dollars for 1% increase in uninsured rate per season.