Working Paper: NBER ID: w12907
Authors: Thomas Deleire; Leonard M. Lopoo; Kosali I. Simon
Abstract: Beginning in the mid 1980s and extending through the early to mid 1990s, a substantial number of women and children gained eligibility for Medicaid through a series of income-based expansions. Using natality data from the National Center for Health Statistics, we estimate fertility responses to these eligibility expansions. We measure changes in state Medicaid eligibility policy by simulating the fraction of a standard population that would qualify for benefits. From 1985 to 1996, the fraction of women aged 15 to 44 who were eligible for Medicaid coverage for a pregnancy increased on average by 24 percentage points. However, contrary to findings in the extant literature, our results do not indicate that this expansion in coverage had a statistically discernible effect on fertility.
Keywords: Medicaid; Fertility; Health Insurance; Low-Income Families
JEL Codes: I18; I28
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Medicaid expansions (I18) | fertility rates (J13) |
| Medicaid eligibility (I18) | births for white women (J19) |
| Medicaid eligibility (I18) | births for African American women (J19) |