Working Paper: NBER ID: w26871
Authors: Adam Sacarny; Katherine Baicker; Amy Finkelstein
Abstract: We analyze the impact of expanded adult Medicaid eligibility on the Medicaid enrollment of already-eligible children. To do so, we exploit the 2008 Oregon Medicaid lottery, in which some low-income uninsured adults were randomly selected for the chance to apply for Medicaid. Children in these households were eligible for Medicaid irrespective of whether the household won the lottery. We estimate statistically significant but transitory impacts of adult lottery selection on children’s Medicaid enrollment: for every 9 adults who enroll in Medicaid due to the lottery, one additional child also enrolls at the same time. Our results shed light on the existence, magnitude, and nature of so-called “woodwork effects”.
Keywords: Medicaid; Enrollment Spillovers; Oregon Health Insurance Experiment; Woodwork Effects
JEL Codes: H53; I13; I38
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Winning the lottery (H27) | Adult Medicaid enrollment (I18) |
| Adult Medicaid enrollment (I18) | Child enrollment (J13) |
| Winning the lottery (H27) | Child enrollment (J13) |
| Winning the lottery (H27) | Child enrollment diminishes over time (J13) |
| Adult Medicaid enrollment (I18) | Child enrollment diminishes over time (J13) |