TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of parental public health insurance eligibility on parent and child health outcomes
AU - Gopalan, Maithreyi
AU - Lombardi, Caitlin Mc Pherran
AU - Bullinger, Lindsey Rose
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - Many states expanded their Medicaid programs to low-income adults under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). These expansions increased Medicaid coverage among low-income parents and their children. Whether these improvements in coverage and healthcare use lead to better health outcomes for parents and their children remains unanswered. We used longitudinal data on a large, nationally representative cohort of elementary-aged children from low-income households from 2010 to 2016. Using a difference-in-differences approach in state Medicaid policy decisions, we estimated the effect of the ACA Medicaid expansions on parent and child health. We found that parents’ self-reported health status improved significantly post-expansion in states that expanded Medicaid through the ACA by 4 percentage points (p < 0.05), a 4.7% improvement. We found no significant changes in children's use of routine doctor visits or parents’ assessment of their children's health status. We observed modest decreases in children's body mass index (BMI) of about 2% (p < 0.05), especially for girls.
AB - Many states expanded their Medicaid programs to low-income adults under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). These expansions increased Medicaid coverage among low-income parents and their children. Whether these improvements in coverage and healthcare use lead to better health outcomes for parents and their children remains unanswered. We used longitudinal data on a large, nationally representative cohort of elementary-aged children from low-income households from 2010 to 2016. Using a difference-in-differences approach in state Medicaid policy decisions, we estimated the effect of the ACA Medicaid expansions on parent and child health. We found that parents’ self-reported health status improved significantly post-expansion in states that expanded Medicaid through the ACA by 4 percentage points (p < 0.05), a 4.7% improvement. We found no significant changes in children's use of routine doctor visits or parents’ assessment of their children's health status. We observed modest decreases in children's body mass index (BMI) of about 2% (p < 0.05), especially for girls.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85121285396&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85121285396&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ehb.2021.101098
DO - 10.1016/j.ehb.2021.101098
M3 - Article
C2 - 34929550
AN - SCOPUS:85121285396
SN - 1570-677X
VL - 44
JO - Economics and Human Biology
JF - Economics and Human Biology
M1 - 101098
ER -