Working Paper: NBER ID: w19547
Authors: Katherine Baicker; Amy Finkelstein; Jae Song; Sarah Taubman
Abstract: In 2008, a group of uninsured low-income adults in Oregon was selected by lottery for the chance to apply for Medicaid. We use this randomized design and 2009 administrative data to evaluate the effect of Medicaid on labor market outcomes and participation in other social safety net programs. We find no significant effect of Medicaid on employment or earnings: our 95 percent confidence intervals allow us to reject that Medicaid causes a decline in employment of more than 4.4 percentage points, or an increase of more than 1.2 percentage points. We find that Medicaid increases receipt of food stamps, but has little, if any, impact on receipt of other government benefits, including SSDI.
Keywords: Medicaid; Labor Force Activity; Social Safety Net Programs; Oregon Health Insurance Experiment
JEL Codes: H51; H53; I13; J20
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Medicaid (I18) | Employment (J68) |
| Medicaid (I18) | Earnings (J31) |
| Medicaid (I18) | Other Government Benefits (H53) |
| Medicaid (I18) | Food Stamps (I38) |