Working Papers

The Effect of the American Rescue Plan Act on Racial Equity in Health Insurance Coverage with Sankar Mukhopadhyay.

In this paper, we estimate the effects of the Premium Tax Credit (PTC) on insurance coverage by exploiting the variation created by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021. While the ARPA expanded PTC eligibility for Americans in all states, the 12 states that have not expanded Medicaid received substantially more benefit than the expansion states. We use nationally representative Household Pulse Survey (HPS) data and a Difference in Difference (DD) framework with non-expansion states as the treatment group to evaluate our research objective. We find that none of the interaction terms in the pre-treatment period are significant. They are also jointly insignificant, suggesting that parallel trends assumption valid. We also find that the percentage of people insured through HIX increased by about 1.2 percentage points (11.1% odds ratio; p-value<0.01) after the ARPA.

The Effect of the Dobbs Decision on Mental Health with Sankar Mukhopadhyay.

The Dobbs v. Jackson U.S. Supreme Court Decision in June 2022 overturned the landmark precedent set by Roe v. Wade in 1973. As a result, abortion regulations are now subject to state jurisdiction. In this paper, we evaluate the effects of restrictive abortion state laws on moderate to severe anxiety. We use nationally representative Household Pulse Survey (HPS) data and a Difference in Difference (DD) framework. Respondents living in states with limited or no access to abortion care serve as the treatment group. We find that respondents in the restricted states are 11.6% (OR: 1.116; 95% CI: 1.039 – 1.200; P=0.003) more likely to experience moderate to severe anxiety compared to unrestricted states. The estimated effects are similar among men and women. We show that trends in anxiety were similar in restricted and unrestricted states before the Dobbs decision, suggesting that the estimates may have a causal interpretation.

Work in Progress

  • The Effect of Managed Long Term Services and Supports on Home Health Provider Quality (Job Market Paper)
  • The REIT Investment Diversification and Empowerment Act of 2007 (RIDEA) and its Effect on the Supply of Assisted Living Facilities
  • Risk Factors of Elder Self Neglect: What can we learn about increased access to Home Health Agencies?
  • Risk Factors of Elder Self Neglect: What can we learn about the lack of Assisted Living Facilities?

Textbooks

  • Social Circumstances and Behavioral Patterns: Impacts on Health and Initiatives to Mitigate These Impacts and Telehealth Applications in Military and Veteran Healthcare Settings in Health Psychology Applications in the Military Veteran Settings: Innovations for the future edited by Larry James (PhD Psychology), Jeanne Wendel (PhD Economics) and William O’Donohue (PhD Psychology), November 2022

Research Reports

  • Katsikas et al., 2021 Nevada Meat Processing Study, Phase 2: Potential for Commercial Slaughter/Processing Facilities University of Nevada, Reno. Submitted to the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Natural Resources.
  • Harris et al., 2021 Nevada Meat Processing Study, Phase 1: Wolf Pack Meats University of Nevada, Reno. Submitted to the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Natural Resources.
  • Katsikas et al., 2020 A feasibility study of a combined license for assisted living facilities, adult day, and respite care services in non-urban Nevada: Response to AB122. University of Nevada, Reno. Submitted to the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services and the Nevada State Assembly.
  • Harris and Katsikas, 2020 The Economic Contributions of the Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools on a Six-County Central California Study Area. Submitted to the Highlands Community Charter and Technical School.
  • Harris and Katsikas, 2019 Benefit-Cost Analysis: Wadsworth Bypass Road (PLIR 35) Pyramid Indian Reservation Washoe County, Nevada. Submitted to the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe and the United States Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration.
  • Katsikas and Tosun, 2019 Economic Analysis of Washoe County Jail. Submitted to Office of the Washoe County Manager.
  • Katsikas and Tosun, 2018 Evaluation of Preferences and Service Expectations of Washoe County Residents. Submitted to Washoe County Department of Economic Development.