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Medicaid matters: children's health and medicaid eligibility expansions
Author(s) -
Lykens Kristine A.,
Jargowsky Paul A.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of policy analysis and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.898
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1520-6688
pISSN - 0276-8739
DOI - 10.1002/pam.10024
Subject(s) - medicaid , socioeconomic status , health equity , discretion , sample (material) , health care , demography , national health interview survey , gerontology , ethnic group , medicine , environmental health , demographic economics , actuarial science , psychology , political science , business , economic growth , economics , population , sociology , law , chemistry , chromatography
In the late 1980s, a series of federal laws were enacted which expanded Medicaid eligibility to more of thenation's children. States had a great amount of discretion in how fast and how far these expansions wereimplemented. As a result, there was great variation among the states in defining who was eligible for theprogram. This variation provides a rare opportunity to disentangle the effect of Medicaid from a child'ssocioeconomic status. Using data from the National Health Interview Survey, we address whether the Medicaidexpansions improved the health and functional status of children. Econometric models were developed usingfixed‐effects regressions, and were estimated separately for white, black, and Hispanic children. Whitechildren experienced statistically significant reductions in acute health conditions and functional limitations.Black and Hispanic children showed some evidence of improved health conditions and functional status, but thisevidence is inconclusive in the study sample. This may be due to differences in their access to appropriatehealth services or to the smaller sample size of minorities in each geographic area. The findings are alsorelevant to the implementation of the Children' Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the latestfederal effort to expand access to health care to poor and near poor children. In many states, CHIP is beingimplemented in whole or in part through further Medicaid expansions. © 2002 by the Association for PolicyAnalysis and Management.