Heterogeneous effects of health insurance on birth related outcomes: Unpacking compositional versus direct changes

Jie Ma and Kosali Simon

Contemporary Economic Policy, 2021, vol. 39, issue 3, 626-640

Abstract: When women of childbearing age gain health insurance, comparing birth outcomes that occur before and after policy changes may confound two separate impacts of coverage. Health insurance could affect who gives birth and also directly improve maternal and child health. We address this question using the Affordable Care Act young adult provision, comparing birth outcomes of 24–25 years to outcomes among older young adults. We show that the composition of mothers shifted toward less advantaged groups. Accounting for this shift, we find direct improvements in prenatal care and pregnancy‐related health but no statistically significant improvements in infant health.

Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/coep.12515

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:39:y:2021:i:3:p:626-640

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://ordering.onl ... 5-7287&ref=1465-7287

Access Statistics for this article

Contemporary Economic Policy is currently edited by Brad R. Humphreys

More articles in Contemporary Economic Policy from Western Economic Association International Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().