Health Insurance Eligibility, Utilization of Medical Care, and Child Health

Janet Currie and Jonathan Gruber

The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1996, vol. 111, issue 2, 431-466

Abstract: We study the effect of public insurance for children on their utilization of medical care and health outcomes by exploiting recent expansions of the Medicaid program to low-income children. These expansions doubled the fraction of children eligible for Medicaid between 1984 and 1992. Take-up of these expansions was much less than full, however, even among otherwise uninsured children. Despite this take-up problem, eligibility for Medicaid significantly increased the utilization of medical care, particularly care delivered in physicians' offices. Increased eligibility was also associated with a sizable and significant reduction in child mortality.

Date: 1996
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Working Paper: Health Insurance Eligibility, Utilization of Medical care, and Child Health (1995)
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