After Midnight: A Regression Discontinuity Design in Length of Postpartum Hospital Stays
利用加州分娩保险覆盖的外生变化，发现额外保险显著延长了产妇和新生儿的住院时间，但并未降低再入院率或死亡率，表明对无并发症分娩的最低保险要求成本高而无健康收益。
Estimates of moral hazard in health insurance markets can be confounded by adverse selection. This paper considers a plausibly exogenous source of variation in insurance coverage for childbirth in California. We find that additional health insurance coverage induces substantial extensions in length of hospital stay for mother and newborn. However, remaining in the hospital longer has no effect on readmissions or mortality, and the estimates are precise. Our results suggest that for uncomplicated births, minimum insurance mandates incur substantial costs without detectable health benefits.