Working Paper: NBER ID: w31557
Authors: Becky Staiger; Madeline S. Helfer; Jessica Van Parys
Abstract: Public disability programs provide financial support to 12 million working-age individuals per year, though not all eligible individuals take up these programs. Mixed evidence exists regarding the impact of Medicaid eligibility expansion on program take-up, and even less is known about the relationship between Medicaid expansion and racial and ethnic disparities in take-up. Using 2009—2020 Current Population Survey (CPS) data, we compare changes in Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) take-up among respondents with disabilities living in Medicaid expansion states to respondents with disabilities living in non-expansion states, before and after Medicaid expansion. We further explore heterogeneity by race/ethnicity. We find that Medicaid expansion reduced SSI take-up by 10% overall, particularly among White and Hispanic respondents (10% and 21%, respectively). Medicaid expansion increased SSDI take-up by 8% overall, particularly among White and Black respondents (9% and 11%, respectively). Moreover, we find that Medicaid expansion reduced the probability that respondents with disabilities had employer-sponsored health insurance by approximately 8%, suggesting that expansion may have reduced job-lock among the SSDI-eligible, contributing to the observed increase in SSDI take-up.
Keywords: Medicaid Expansion; Disability Benefits; SSI; SSDI; Racial Disparities
JEL Codes: I13; I14; J15; J22
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Medicaid expansion (I18) | SSI takeup (H87) |
| Medicaid expansion (I18) | SSDI takeup (H53) |
| Medicaid expansion (I18) | employer-sponsored health insurance (I13) |