The effect of the State Children's Health Insurance Program on health insurance coverage.
This paper presents the first national estimates of the effects of the SCHIP expansions on insurance coverage. Using CPS data on insurance coverage during the years 1996-2000, we estimate instrumental variables regressions of insurance coverage. Our regression results imply that 9% of children meeting income eligibility standards for SCHIP gained public insurance. While low, our estimates indicate that states were more successful in enrolling children in SCHIP than they were with prior Medicaid expansions that were focused on children just above the poverty line. Crowd-out of private health insurance was estimated to be nearly 50%, which is in line with estimates for the Medicaid expansions of the early 1990s. In addition, state anti-crowd-out provisions in the form of waiting periods were found to significantly affect both take-up and crowd-out.
Lo Sasso
Anthony T
AT
Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, 2040 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208, USA. a-losasso@northwestern.edu
Buchmueller
Thomas C
TC
D000293:Adolescent; D000385:Aid to Families with Dependent Children / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002017:Budgets; D002140:California; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000191:economics*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D017057:Medically Uninsured / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011203:Poverty; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013221:State Health Plans / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States