Author: Ferit Ucar

Publisher:

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 9780549771159

The second chapter is the first attempt to study the long-term effects of Medicaid on children's health outcomes by looking at the effects of the same Medicaid expansions that took place in the later 1980s and early 1990s. These expansions significantly increased the percentage of pregnant women and children eligible for Medicaid but did so at very differential rates across the states. The substantial variation in Medicaid eligibility thresholds by state, and year, and the age of the child provide the identifying variation for the analysis. By using restricted access data, containing state of birth and state of residence of children, I match children to the Medicaid eligibility rules in their year of birth and currently. The results suggest that the expansions were effective in improving the health of children from low-income families in the long run. Increased Medicaid eligibility at birth is associated with better health outcomes in the future. But interestingly eligibility at older ages (conditional on eligibility at birth) is not.