Housing in Medicaid: Should It Really Change?
研究医疗补助中住房豁免的成本、收益和再分配影响，发现该豁免对低收入退休人员有价值，但取消或实施遗产回收会减少对他们的再分配。
Housing is mostly exempted from Medicaid and Supplemental Social Insurance means tests. Reforms of this special treatment have been debated, but little is known about its costs, benefits, and redistributive implications. I estimate a life cycle model of single retirees accounting for this exemption. It shows that the homestead exemption explains important patterns of Medicaid recipiency and that it is highly valued. It also shows that estate recovery could cover most of its costs with possibly limited negative welfare consequences. Finally, the model predicts that removing the homestead exemption or enforcing estate recovery programs would reduce redistribution toward lower-income retirees.