TY - JOUR
T1 - The long-term impacts of Medicaid exposure in early childhood
T2 - Evidence from the program's origin
AU - Boudreaux, Michel H.
AU - Golberstein, Ezra
AU - McAlpine, Donna D.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2016/1/1
Y1 - 2016/1/1
N2 - This paper examines the long-term impact of exposure to Medicaid in early childhood on adult health and economic status. The staggered timing of Medicaid's adoption across the states created meaningful variation in cumulative exposure to Medicaid for birth cohorts that are now in adulthood. Analyses of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics suggest exposure to Medicaid in early childhood (age 0-5) is associated with statistically significant and meaningful improvements in adult health (age 25-54), and this effect is only seen in subgroups targeted by the program. Results for economic outcomes are imprecise and we are unable to come to definitive conclusions. Using separate data we find evidence of two mechanisms that could plausibly link Medicaid's introduction to long-term outcomes: contemporaneous increases in health services utilization for children and reductions in family medical debt.
AB - This paper examines the long-term impact of exposure to Medicaid in early childhood on adult health and economic status. The staggered timing of Medicaid's adoption across the states created meaningful variation in cumulative exposure to Medicaid for birth cohorts that are now in adulthood. Analyses of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics suggest exposure to Medicaid in early childhood (age 0-5) is associated with statistically significant and meaningful improvements in adult health (age 25-54), and this effect is only seen in subgroups targeted by the program. Results for economic outcomes are imprecise and we are unable to come to definitive conclusions. Using separate data we find evidence of two mechanisms that could plausibly link Medicaid's introduction to long-term outcomes: contemporaneous increases in health services utilization for children and reductions in family medical debt.
KW - Health and human capital
KW - Medicaid
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84952880862&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84952880862&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2015.11.001
DO - 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2015.11.001
M3 - Article
C2 - 26763123
AN - SCOPUS:84952880862
SN - 0167-6296
VL - 45
SP - 161
EP - 175
JO - Journal of Health Economics
JF - Journal of Health Economics
ER -