IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ilrrev/v54y2000i1p59-77.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effect of Expanding Medicaid Eligibility on the Distribution of Children's Health Insurance Coverage

Author

Listed:
  • Lara D. Shore-Sheppard

Abstract

Federal legislation passed in the late 1980s greatly expanded the Medicaid program to include children in families with incomes at and above the poverty threshold, regardless of family structure. Using March Current Population Survey data, the author evaluates how the expansions affected private and public insurance coverage levels across the income distribution. Estimates of the extent of take-up of public coverage and substitution of private coverage are used to generate distributions of coverage under two counterfactual situations: absence of expansions, and absence of substitution. The results indicate that the expansions had an equalizing effect on coverage levels across the lower five deciles of the income distribution between 1988 and 1995. In their absence, coverage would have fallen significantly in the third through fifth income deciles. Also, if all of the increased Medicaid enrollment had come from the uninsured population, inequality in coverage levels would have decreased even further.

Suggested Citation

  • Lara D. Shore-Sheppard, 2000. "The Effect of Expanding Medicaid Eligibility on the Distribution of Children's Health Insurance Coverage," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 54(1), pages 59-77, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:54:y:2000:i:1:p:59-77
    DOI: 10.1177/001979390005400104
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/001979390005400104
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/001979390005400104?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shore-Sheppard, Lara & Buchmueller, Thomas C. & Jensen, Gail A., 2000. "Medicaid and crowding out of private insurance: a re-examination using firm level data," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 61-91, January.
    2. 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.
    3. Richard N. Rosett, 1976. "The Role of Health Insurance in the Health Services Sector," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number rose76-1, March.
    4. Blumberg, Linda J. & Dubay, Lisa & Norton, Stephen A., 2000. "Did the Medicaid expansions for children displace private insurance? An analysis using the SIPP," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 33-60, January.
    5. Helen Levy, 1998. "Who Pays for Health Insurance? Employee Contributions to Health Insurance Premiums," Working Papers 777, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    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


    Cited by:

    1. Yelowitz, Aaron S., 2000. "Public policy and health insurance choices of the elderly: evidence from the medicare buy-in program," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(3), pages 301-324, November.
    2. David Card & Lara Dawn Shore-Sheppard, 2001. "Using Discontinuous Eligibility Rules to Identify the Effects of the Federal Medicaid Expansions," JCPR Working Papers 248, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
    3. Velamuri, Malathi, 2009. "Taxes, Health Insurance and Women’s Self-Employment," MPRA Paper 15731, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. David Card & Lara D. Shore-Sheppard, 2004. "Using Discontinuous Eligibility Rules to Identify the Effects of the Federal Medicaid Expansions on Low-Income Children," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(3), pages 752-766, August.
    5. Stan McMillen & Kathryn Parr & Xiumei Song & Brian Baird, 2004. "The Kerry-Bush Health Care Proposals: A Characterization and Comparison of their Impacts on Connecticut (Technical Appendix)," CCEA Studies 2004-06, University of Connecticut, Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis.
    6. Saavedra, Martin, 2017. "Children's health insurance, family income, and welfare enrollment," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 182-186.
    7. A. S. Yelowitz, "undated". "Public Policy and Health Care Choices of the Elderly: Evidence from the Medicare Buy-In Program," Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Papers 1136-97, University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty.
    8. John C. Ham & I. Serkan Ozbeklik & Lara Shore-Sheppard, 2010. "Estimating Heterogeneous Treatment Effects of Medicaid Expansions on Take-up and Crowd-out," NBER Working Papers 16112, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ellen Meara & Meredith Rosenthal & Anna Sinaiko & Katherine Baicker, 2008. "State and Federal Approaches to Health Reform: What Works for the Working Poor?," NBER Working Papers 14125, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Monheit, Alan C. & Vistnes, Jessica Primoff, 2005. "The demand for dependent health insurance: How important is the cost of family coverage?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 1108-1131, November.
    3. Borjas, George J., 2003. "Welfare reform, labor supply, and health insurance in the immigrant population," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(6), pages 933-958, November.
    4. Ham, John C. & Shore-Sheppard, Lara, 2005. "The effect of Medicaid expansions for low-income children on Medicaid participation and private insurance coverage: evidence from the SIPP," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 57-83, January.
    5. 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.
    6. Jonathan Gruber & Kosali Simon, 2007. "Crowd-Out Ten Years Later: Have Recent Public Insurance Expansions Crowded Out Private Health Insurance?," NBER Working Papers 12858, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Witman, Allison, 2015. "Public health insurance and disparate eligibility of spouses: The Medicare eligibility gap," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 10-25.
    8. Meara Ellen & Rosenthal Meredith B & Sinaiko Anna D. & Baicker Katherine, 2008. "State and Federal Approaches to Health Reform: What Works for the Working Poor?," Forum for Health Economics & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-28, July.
    9. Shore-Sheppard, Lara & Buchmueller, Thomas C. & Jensen, Gail A., 2000. "Medicaid and crowding out of private insurance: a re-examination using firm level data," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 61-91, January.
    10. Jonathan Gruber, 2003. "Medicaid," NBER Chapters, in: Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States, pages 15-78, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Jessica Vistnes & Michael Morrisey & Gail Jensen, 2006. "Employer choices of family premium sharing," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 25-47, March.
    12. Anthony T. Lo Sasso & Bruce D. Meyer, 2006. "The Health Care Safety Net and Crowd-Out of Private Health Insurance," NBER Working Papers 11977, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Marianne P. Bitler & Madeline Zavodny, 2014. "Medicaid: A Review of the Literature," NBER Working Papers 20169, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Lo Sasso, Anthony T. & Buchmueller, Thomas C., 2004. "The effect of the state children's health insurance program on health insurance coverage," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 1059-1082, September.
    15. Kosteas, Vasilios D. & Renna, Francesco, 2014. "Plan choice, health insurance cost and premium sharing," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 179-188.
    16. Thomas C. Buchmueller & John Dinardo & Robert G. Valletta, 2002. "Union Effects on Health Insurance Provision and Coverage in the United States," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 55(4), pages 610-627, July.
    17. Monheit, Alan C. & Steinberg Schone, Barbara, 2004. "How has small group market reform affected employee health insurance coverage?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1-2), pages 237-254, January.
    18. Phillip B. Levine & Robin McKnight & Samantha Heep, 2009. "Public Policy, Health Insurance and the Transition to Adulthood," NBER Working Papers 15114, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Thomas Buchmueller & John Dinardo, 2002. "Did Community Rating Induce an Adverse Selection Death Spiral? Evidence from New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 280-294, March.
    20. Lindsey Leininger & Helen Levy & Diane Schanzenbach, 2010. "Consequences of SCHIP Expansions for Household Well-Being," NBER Chapters, in: Frontiers in Health Policy Research, volume 13, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E29 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Other
    • E3 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:54:y:2000:i:1:p:59-77. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.