Research

Peer-reviewed publications

Aboulafia, Gabriella, Jonathan Gruber, and Benjamin D. Sommers. “The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of the Affordable Care Act: Varying Impacts on Coverage Over Time and Place.” Journal of Health Economics 2026;110:103188.

• Cited in an amicus brief in City of Columbus v. Kennedy (4th Cir. 2026), challenging ACA enrollment restrictions
• Covered by Bloomberg

Aboulafia, Gabriella, Amanda Chen, and David Grabowski. “Asset Spend-Down and Medicaid Enrollment in Nursing Homes.” JAMA Network Open 2025;8(12):e2546876.

• Cited in a letter by Senate Finance Committee members proposing long-term care reforms (2026)

Aboulafia, Gabriella and Daniel Schneider. “Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance for Workers in the Hourly Service Sector.” JAMA Health Forum 2025;6(11):e254747.

Aboulafia, Gabriella and Adrianna McIntyre. “How Should Children’s Medicaid Eligibility Be Monitored?” AMA Journal of Ethics 2025;27(9):E686–694.

Smith, Rebecca B., Gabriella Aboulafia, and Benjamin D. Sommers. “Who Enrolls in Coverage and Who Remains Uninsured? Medicaid Take-Up Before and After the Affordable Care Act and During Unwinding.” The Milbank Quarterly 2025;103(2):349–389.

McIntyre, Adrianna, Benjamin D. Sommers, Gabriella Aboulafia, E. John Orav, Arnold M. Epstein, and Jose F. Figueroa. “Experiences with Medicaid Unwinding Among Low-Income Adults in 4 Southern States.” Health Affairs Scholar 2025;3(5):qxaf083.

McIntyre, Adrianna, Benjamin D. Sommers, Gabriella Aboulafia, Jessica Phelan, E. John Orav, Arnold M. Epstein, and Jose F. Figueroa. “Coverage and Access Changes During Medicaid Unwinding: A Survey of Low-Income Households in Four Southern States.” JAMA Health Forum 2024;5(6):e242193.

McIntyre, Adrianna, Gabriella Aboulafia, and Benjamin D. Sommers. “Preliminary Data on Unwinding Continuous Medicaid Coverage.” New England Journal of Medicine 2023;389:2215–2217.

Works in progress

Scheduling Volatility as a Barrier to Medicaid Work Requirement Compliance Among Service-Sector Workers (Revise and Resubmit at Health Affairs, with Benjamin Sommers, Daniel Schneider, and Adrianna McIntyre)

The Electoral Feedbacks of Medicare in an Era of Privatization (with Adrianna McIntyre)

Trends in Political Advertising of Health Issues from 2012–2022 (with Nolan Kavanagh and Adrianna McIntyre)

The Political Consequences of the Enhanced Marketplace Subsidies Expiration (with Adrianna McIntyre)

Tort Immunity and Nursing Home Outcomes (with Deepon Bhaumik, David Grabowski, and Jill Horwitz)

Selected other writing

Aboulafia, Gabriella, Jonathan Gruber, and Benjamin D. Sommers. “The Past and Future of Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act—Support or Sabotage?” JAMA 2025;334(2):115–118.

Aboulafia, Gabriella. “Could Medicaid Losses Dampen Voter Turnout?” Tradeoffs Research Corner, November 6, 2023.

Aboulafia, Gabriella. “Opinion: Texas children at risk as pandemic-era Medicaid coverage ends.” Austin American-Statesman, July 23, 2023.

Collins, Sara R., Munira Z. Gunja, and Gabriella N. Aboulafia. “U.S. Health Insurance Coverage in 2020: A Looming Crisis in Affordability—Findings from the Biennial Health Insurance Survey.” Survey brief, The Commonwealth Fund, August 2020.