Working Paper: NBER ID: w14591
Authors: Dhaval M. Dave; Sandra Decker; Robert Kaestner; Kosali I. Simon
Abstract: This paper analyzes the effect of Medicaid eligibility expansions on the health insurance coverage of women giving birth and on the use of prenatal care and infant health, controlling for year and state effects and state-specific trends that may be correlated with expansions in Medicaid eligibility. We combine estimates from the two sets of analyses to construct estimates of the effect of health insurance on use of prenatal care and infant health. We find that the eligibility expansions reduced the proportion of pregnant women who were uninsured by approximately 10 percent, although this decrease in uninsured came with the expense of a substantial reduction in private insurance coverage. Changes in Medicaid eligibility were associated with very small and statistically insignificant changes in prenatal care use, birth weight, and incidence of low-birth weight.
Keywords: Medicaid; Pregnant Women; Infant Health; Health Insurance Coverage; Prenatal Care
JEL Codes: I11; I12; I18; I28; I38
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Medicaid eligibility expansions (I18) | reduced proportion of uninsured pregnant women (I13) |
| 20 percentage point increase in Medicaid eligibility (I18) | 35 to 56 percentage point increase in Medicaid coverage among pregnant women (I18) |
| increase in Medicaid coverage (I18) | crowding out of private insurance (I13) |
| changes in Medicaid eligibility (I18) | very small and statistically insignificant changes in prenatal care use (J13) |
| changes in Medicaid eligibility (I18) | negligible changes in birth weight (J19) |
| changes in Medicaid eligibility (I18) | negligible changes in incidence of low birth weight (J19) |
| lack of substantial effects on infant health (I12) | low Medicaid take-up rates and crowding out of private insurance coverage (I18) |
| Medicaid expansions (I18) | limited effects on improving infant health (I14) |