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The Oregon Health Insurance Experiment: Evidence from the First Year

Author

Listed:
  • Amy Finkelstein
  • Sarah Taubman
  • Bill Wright
  • Mira Bernstein
  • Jonathan Gruber
  • Joseph P. Newhouse
  • Heidi Allen
  • Katherine Baicker

Abstract

In 2008, a group of uninsured low-income adults in Oregon was selected by lottery to be given the chance to apply for Medicaid. This lottery provides an opportunity to gauge the effects of expanding access to public health insurance on the health care use, financial strain, and health of low-income adults using a randomized controlled design. In the year after random assignment, the treatment group selected by the lottery was about 25 percentage points more likely to have insurance than the control group that was not selected. We find that in this first year, the treatment group had substantively and statistically significantly higher health care utilization (including primary and preventive care as well as hospitalizations), lower out-of-pocket medical expenditures and medical debt (including fewer bills sent to collection), and better self-reported physical and mental health than the control group. JEL Codes: H51, H75, I1. Copyright 2012, Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Amy Finkelstein & Sarah Taubman & Bill Wright & Mira Bernstein & Jonathan Gruber & Joseph P. Newhouse & Heidi Allen & Katherine Baicker, 2012. "The Oregon Health Insurance Experiment: Evidence from the First Year," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(3), pages 1057-1106.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:qjecon:v:127:y:2012:i:3:p:1057-1106
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/qje/qjs020
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    JEL classification:

    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health
    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health

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