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Effects of health insurance on birth weight in Mexico
Author(s) -
Kumar Santosh,
Gonzalez Fidel
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
health economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.55
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1099-1050
pISSN - 1057-9230
DOI - 10.1002/hec.3662
Subject(s) - instrumental variable , health insurance , birth weight , medicine , low birth weight , actuarial science , demography , index (typography) , environmental health , business , economics , health care , economic growth , pregnancy , econometrics , sociology , biology , genetics , world wide web , computer science
Summary This paper estimates the effect of mother's insurance coverage on neonatal outcomes in Mexico using hospital‐based administrative data. Using an instrumental variable approach to identify the causal effects of health insurance on infant health, we find that mother's insurance coverage has positive impacts on neonatal outcomes. Children born to insured mothers weighed 108 g higher and had reduced probability of low birth weight by 7.5 percentage points. These effects appear to be stronger for mothers with higher levels of education and in municipalities with a higher development index. Findings indicate that expanding insurance coverage could be helpful in improving neonatal outcomes in resource‐constrained countries.