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Who Increases Emergency Department Use? New Insights from the Oregon Health Insurance Experiment

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  • Denteh, Augustine

    (Georgia State University)

  • Liebert, Helge

    (Swiss National Bank)

Abstract

We provide new insights regarding the finding that Medicaid increased emergency department (ED) use from the Oregon experiment. We find meaningful heterogeneous impacts of Medicaid on ED use using causal machine learning methods. The treatment effect distribution is widely dispersed, and the average effect is not representative of most individualized treatment effects. A small group—about 14% of participants—in the right tail of the distribution drives the overall effect. We identify priority groups with economically significant increases in ED usage based on demographics and prior utilization. Intensive margin effects are an important driver of increases in ED utilization.

Suggested Citation

  • Denteh, Augustine & Liebert, Helge, 2022. "Who Increases Emergency Department Use? New Insights from the Oregon Health Insurance Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 15192, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15192
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    Cited by:

    1. Tymon Sloczynski & S. Derya Uysal & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge & Derya Uysal, 2022. "Doubly Robust Estimation of Local Average Treatment Effects Using Inverse Probability Weighted Regression Adjustment," CESifo Working Paper Series 10105, CESifo.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Medicaid; ED use; effect heterogeneity; causal machine learning; optimal policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

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