Working Paper: NBER ID: w9769
Authors: Robert Kaestner; Won Chan Lee
Abstract: Welfare reform has resulted in a dramatic decline in welfare caseloads and some have claimed that a significant number of low-income women may be without health insurance as a result. The loss of insurance may reduce low-income, pregnant women's health care utilization, and this may adversely affect infant health. Welfare reform also may affect healthcare utilization and health of pregnant women and infants because of welfare-induced changes in family disposable income, time available for health investments, and levels of stress. In this paper we examine the effect of welfare reform on prenatal care utilization and birth weight of low-educated women and their infants. We find that a 50 percent reduction in the caseload, which is similar to that which occurred in the 1990s, is associated with a zero to seven percent decrease in first trimester prenatal care; a zero to five percent decrease in the number of prenatal care visits; and a zero to 10 percent increase in low birth weight.
Keywords: welfare reform; prenatal care; birth weight; low-income women; health insurance
JEL Codes: I2; I3
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Welfare reform (I38) | Prenatal care utilization (J13) |
| Welfare reform (I38) | Number of prenatal care visits (I11) |
| Welfare reform (I38) | Low birth weight (J13) |
| Welfare caseload (I38) | Prenatal care utilization (J13) |
| Welfare caseload (I38) | Number of prenatal care visits (I11) |
| Welfare caseload (I38) | Low birth weight (J13) |
| Increased labor market activity (J29) | Medicaid eligibility (I18) |
| Medicaid eligibility (I18) | Prenatal care utilization (J13) |
| Medicaid eligibility (I18) | Low birth weight (J13) |
| Quality of prenatal care (I14) | Infant health outcomes (I14) |