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Policy Watch: Medicaid and Uninsured Women and Children

Author

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  • Jonathan Gruber

Abstract

This paper focuses on the role of Medicaid, the public health insurance program for low income populations, as a means of reducing uninsurance among uninsured women and children. The author discusses the structure of the Medicaid program and recent findings of its effects on insurance status, medical utilization, and health. He concludes that public insurance can be a cost-effective tool for reducing uninsurance and improving health, but only if eligibility is targeted to populations in need of insurance; expansions up the income scale should be accompanied by other program features that minimize substitution of private insurance, such as cost-sharing.

Suggested Citation

  • Jonathan Gruber, 1997. "Policy Watch: Medicaid and Uninsured Women and Children," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(4), pages 199-208, Fall.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:11:y:1997:i:4:p:199-208
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/jep.11.4.199
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    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jep.11.4.199
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aaron S. Yelowitz, 1995. "The Medicaid Notch, Labor Supply, and Welfare Participation: Evidence from Eligibility Expansions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(4), pages 909-939.
    2. Jonathan Gruber & Kathleen Adams & Joseph P. Newhouse, 1997. "Physician Fee Policy and Medicaid Program Costs," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 32(4), pages 611-634.
    3. Rebecca M. Blank & David E. Card, 1991. "Recent Trends in Insured and Uninsured Unemployment: Is There an Explanation?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(4), pages 1157-1189.
    4. Moffitt, Robert & Wolfe, Barbara L, 1992. "The Effect of the Medicaid Program on Welfare Participation and Labor Supply," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 74(4), pages 615-626, November.
    5. Janet Currie, 2000. "Do Children of Immigrants Make Differential Use of Public Health Insurance?," NBER Chapters, in: Issues in the Economics of Immigration, pages 271-308, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Janet Currie & Jonathan Gruber, 1996. "Health Insurance Eligibility, Utilization of Medical Care, and Child Health," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(2), pages 431-466.
    7. Buescher, P.A. & Roth, M.S. & Williams, D. & Goforth, C.M., 1991. "An evaluation of the impact of maternity care coordination on Medicaid birth outcomes in North Carolina," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 81(12), pages 1625-1629.
    8. Nada Eissa & Jeffrey B. Liebman, 1996. "Labor Supply Response to the Earned Income Tax Credit," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(2), pages 605-637.
    9. David M. Cutler & Jonathan Gruber, 1996. "Does Public Insurance Crowd out Private Insurance?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(2), pages 391-430.
    10. Currie, Janet & Gruber, Jonathan & Fischer, Michael, 1995. "Physician Payments and Infant Mortality: Evidence from Medicaid Fee Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(2), pages 106-111, May.
    11. Janet Currie & Jonathan Gruber, 1997. "The Technology of Birth: Health Insurance, Medical Interventions, and Infant Health," NBER Working Papers 5985, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Currie, Janet & Gruber, Jonathan, 1996. "Saving Babies: The Efficacy and Cost of Recent Changes in the Medicaid Eligibility of Pregnant Women," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(6), pages 1263-1296, December.
    13. Jonathan Gruber, 1997. "Health Insurance for Poor Women and Children in the US: Lessons from the Past Decade," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 11, pages 169-211, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Rebecca M. Blank & Patricia Ruggles, 1993. "When Do Women Use AFDC & Food Stamps? The Dynamics of Eligibility vs. Participation," NBER Working Papers 4429, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Nichols, Albert L & Zeckhauser, Richard J, 1982. "Targeting Transfers through Restrictions on Recipients," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(2), pages 372-377, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Lincoln Groves, 2015. "Still “Saving Babies”? The Impact of Child Medicaid Expansions on High School Completion Rates," Center for Policy Research Working Papers 181, Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University.
    2. Elizabeth Powers, 2002. "Did the Medicaid-Eligibility Expansions Increase the Reporting of Children's Health Problems? Evidence from the SIPP," JCPR Working Papers 270, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
    3. Conway, Karen Smith & Deb, Partha, 2005. "Is prenatal care really ineffective? Or, is the 'devil' in the distribution?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 489-513, May.
    4. Karen Smith Conway & Lisa DeFelice Kennedy, 2004. "Maternal Depression and the Production of Infant Health," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 71(2), pages 260-286, October.
    5. Anna Aizer, 2003. "Got Health? Advertising, Medicaid and Child Health," Working Papers 2003-20, Brown University, Department of Economics.
    6. J. Bradford Rice & Judith D. Kasper & Liliana E. Pezzin, 2009. "A comparative analysis of Medicaid long‐term care policies and their effects on elderly dual enrollees," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(3), pages 275-290, March.
    7. Karen Smith Conway & Andrea Kutinova, 2006. "Maternal health: does prenatal care make a difference?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(5), pages 461-488, May.
    8. Robert A. Moffitt, 1999. "Demographic Change and Public Assistance Expenditures," NBER Working Papers 6995, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Theodore F. Figinski & Erin Troland, 2020. "Health Insurance and Hospital Supply: Evidence from 1950s Coal Country," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2020-033, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    10. Lincoln H. Groves, 2020. "Still “Saving Babies”? The Impact Of Child Medicaid Expansions On High School Completion Rates," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 38(1), pages 109-126, January.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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