Working Paper: NBER ID: w1062
Authors: Paul J. Taubman; Robin C. Sickles
Abstract: In 1974 the federal government instituted Supplemental Social Insurance(SSI). The eligible group was the elderly on welfare and disabled individuals.The program distributed extra income and made people eligible for Medicaid in all states except Arizona which did not have Medicaid. We used subjective and objective health information in the Retirement History Survey (RHS) to examine the impact of the program. The RHS is a sample that began in 1969 and included heads of households who were 58 to 63 years old. The respondents or widows were resurveyed every second year through 1977. Before 1974 those who subsequently received SSI were in much worse health than those who did not.After1974 the differences in health were small and not statistically significant.
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Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| SSI eligibility (I38) | health outcomes (I14) |
| SSI payments (H55) | health outcomes (I14) |
| SSI eligibility and payments (H55) | morbidity and mortality risks (I12) |
| health disparities before SSI (I14) | health disparities after SSI (I14) |
| reduction in SSI payments (H55) | higher risks of poor health and mortality (I14) |