Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Effects of Increased Access to Infertility Treatment on Infant and Child Health Outcomes: Evidence from Health Insurance Mandates

Contents:

Author Info

  • Marianne Bitler

Abstract

This paper examines the association between use of infertility treatment and infant and child health outcomes. Infertility treatment makes conception possible for many couples who otherwise would have been unable to reproduce. Access to subsidized infertility treatment varies across states over time because some states have insurance mandates compelling insurers to cover, or offer to cover, infertility treatment. Many infertility treatments also increase the chances of having multiple births. Using birth certificate data, we find the infertility mandates are associated with a statistically significant 10 percent increase in the twin birth rate among older mothers. Twin pregnancies are typically more dangerous (and costly) than singleton pregnancies. Thus, even if the only effect of the mandates is to increase twin birth rates, they have likely had a negative effect on infant health. For twins born to older mothers, the mandates are also associated with small but statistically significant negative effects on birth weight, gestation, and the 5-minute Apgar score. Effects for singletons born to older mothers are smaller in magnitude but still negative. Using Census data, we find more mixed evidence about longer-term effects of the mandates on child health. Our findings for twin birth outcomes suggest that the positive effects of investment by older mothers in their pregnancies are outweighed by the negative effects of the infertility treatments themselves or by the selection into pregnancy of women with reduced fecundity.

Download Info

To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
1. Check below under "Related research" whether another version of this item is available online.
2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Public Policy Institute of California in its series PPIC Working Papers with number 2005.06.

as in new window
Length: 75 pages
Date of creation: May 2005
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:ppi:ppicwp:2005.06

Contact details of provider:
Postal: 500 Washington Street, Suite 600, San Francisco, California 94111
Phone: (415) 291-4400
Fax: (415) 291-4401
Email:
Web page: http://www.ppic.org/main/home.asp
More information through EDIRC

Related research

Keywords:

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:

References

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
as in new window
  1. Lucie Schmidt, 2005. "Effects of Infertility Insurance Mandates on Fertility," Department of Economics Working Papers 2005-07, Department of Economics, Williams College.
  2. Gabor Kezdi, 2005. "Robus Standard Error Estimation in Fixed-Effects Panel Models," Econometrics 0508018, EconWPA.
  3. Elizabeth Oltmans Ananat & Jonathan Gruber & Phillip B. Levine, 2004. "Abortion Legalization and Lifecycle Fertility," NBER Working Papers 10705, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  4. Laurence C. Baker & Ciaran S. Phibbs, 2002. "Managed Care, Technology Adoption, and Health Care: The Adoption of Neonatal Intensive Care," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 33(3), pages 524-548, Autumn.
  5. Douglas Almond & Kenneth Y. Chay & David S. Lee, 2004. "The Costs of Low Birth Weight," NBER Working Papers 10552, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  6. John J. Donohue & Steven D. Levitt, 2001. "The Impact Of Legalized Abortion On Crime," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 116(2), pages 379-420, May.
  7. John J. Donohue, III & Steven D. Levitt, 2004. "Further Evidence that Legalized Abortion Lowered Crime: A Reply to Joyce," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 39(1).
  8. Sara Markowitz & Jonathan Klick, . "Are Mental Health Insurance Mandates Effective?: Evidence from Suicides," Working Papers Rutgers University, Newark 2004-003, Department of Economics, Rutgers University, Newark.
  9. David M. Cutler & Ellen Meara, 2000. "The Technology of Birth: Is It Worth It?," Forum for Health Economics & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 3, pages 3.
  10. Jonathan Gruber & Phillip Levine & Douglas Staiger, 1997. "Abortion Legalization and Child Living Circumstances: Who is the "Marginal Child?"," NBER Working Papers 6034, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  11. Summers, Lawrence H, 1989. "Some Simple Economics of Mandated Benefits," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(2), pages 177-83, May.
  12. Janet Currie & Rosemary Hyson, 1999. "Is the Impact of Health Shocks Cushioned by Socioeconomic Status? The Case of Low Birthweight," NBER Working Papers 6999, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  13. Michael Grossman & Theodore J. Joyce, 1991. "Unobservables, Pregnancy Resolutions, and Birthweight Production Functions in New York City," NBER Working Papers 2746, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  14. Ted Joyce, 2001. "Did Legalized Abortion Lower Crime?," NBER Working Papers 8319, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  15. Liu, Zhimei & Dow, William H. & Norton, Edward C., 2004. "Effect of drive-through delivery laws on postpartum length of stay and hospital charges," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 129-155, January.
Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

Citations

Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
as in new window

Cited by:
  1. Lucie Schmidt, 2005. "Infertility Insurance Mandates and Fertility," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 204-208, May.
  2. Thomas DeLeire & Leonard Lopoo & Kosali Simon, 2011. "Medicaid Expansions and Fertility in the United States," Demography, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 725-747, May.
  3. Lucie Schmidt, 2005. "Effects of Infertility Insurance Mandates on Fertility," Department of Economics Working Papers 2005-07, Department of Economics, Williams College.
  4. M. Kate Bundorf & Melinda Henne & Laurence Baker, 2007. "Mandated Health Insurance Benefits and the Utilization and Outcomes of Infertility Treatments," NBER Working Papers 12820, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  5. Ohinata, A., 2011. "Did the US Infertility Health Insurance Mandates Affect the Timing of First Birth?," Discussion Paper 2011-102, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
  6. Marianne P. Bitler & Lucie Schmidt, 2011. "Utilization of Infertility Treatments: The Effects of Insurance Mandates," NBER Working Papers 17668, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  7. Machado, Matilde Pinto & Sanz-de-Galdeano, Anna, 2011. "Coverage of Infertility Treatment and Fertility Outcomes: Do Women Catch Up?," CEPR Discussion Papers 8445, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

Lists

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Statistics

Access and download statistics

Corrections

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ppi:ppicwp:2005.06

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ().

If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.