Do Mandated Health Insurance Benefits for Diabetes Save Lives?

In response to the growing concern over diabetes, state-mandated health insurance benefits for diabetes have become popular since the late 1990s. However, little is known about whether these mandates improve the health of people with diabetes. In this paper, I use data from the Vital Statistics Multiple Cause of Death Mortality and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to investigate the effects of these mandates on diabetes-related mortality rates, along with underlying mechanisms behind the estimated effects. Using a difference-in-differences framework that leverages variation in the enactment of mandates both across states and over time, I find that about 3.2 fewer diabetes-related deaths per 100,000 occur annually in mandate states than in non-mandate states. The mechanism analysis suggests higher utilization of the mandated medical benefits caused these mortality improvements.