Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/302707 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 17190
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
While a large literature examines the immediate and long-run effects of public health insurance, much less is known about the impacts of total program exposure on child developmental outcomes. This paper uses an instrumental variable strategy to estimate the effect of cumulative eligibility gain on cognitive and behavioral outcomes measured at three points during childhood. Our analysis leverages substantial variation in cumulative eligibility due to the dramatic public insurance expansions between the 1980s and 2000s. We find that increased eligibility improves child cognitive skills and present suggestive evidence on better behavioral outcomes. There are notable heterogeneous effects across the subgroups of interest. Both prenatal eligibility and childhood eligibility are important for driving gains in the test scores at older ages. Improved child health is found to be a mediator of the impact of increased eligibility.
Subjects: 
Medicaid
state children's health insurance program
health insurance
human capital
cognitive development
non-cognitive skills
JEL: 
H51
I13
I38
J13
J24
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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