THE EFFECT OF MEDICAID ELIGIBILITY ON COVERAGE, UTILIZATION, AND CHILDREN'S HEALTH
利用回归断点设计，估计医疗补助资格对参保率、私人保险挤出、医疗利用和儿童健康的因果影响，发现资格提高参保和预防性医疗使用，但未显著改善短期健康。
I estimate the causal impact of Medicaid eligibility on take up, private health insurance coverage, healthcare utilization, and children's health by using a regression discontinuity design. In contrast to a standard regression discontinuity design, identification exploits multiple thresholds that arise from variation across states in income eligibility rules. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and its Child Development Study supplement, I find that Medicaid eligibility increases take up by 10-13 percentage points on average, rising to 24-29 percentage points at lower income eligibility thresholds. There are significant crowding out effects of the same magnitude as those on take up rates. Medicaid eligibility increases the use of preventive health care by 11-14 percentage points but only at low income thresholds. Finally, I find that Medicaid eligibility has no significant effects on health outcomes in the short and medium run.