The Impact of Youth Medicaid Eligibility on Adult Incarceration

Samuel Arenberg, Seth Neller and Sam Stripling

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2024, vol. 16, issue 1, 121-56

Abstract: This paper identifies an important spillover associated with public health insurance: reduced incarceration. In 1990, Congress passed legislation that increased Medicaid eligibility for individuals born after September 30, 1983. We show that Black children born just after the cutoff are 5 percent less likely to be incarcerated by age 28, driven primarily by a decrease in incarcerations connected to financially motivated offenses. Children of other races, who experienced almost no gain in Medicaid coverage as a result of the policy, demonstrate no such decline. We find that reduced incarceration in adulthood substantially offsets the initial costs of expanding eligibility.

JEL-codes: H51 I13 I18 I38 J15 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1257/app.20200785

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