DC Accepted Papers Paper:
The Spillover Effects of ACA Medicaid Expansion on Children's Preventive Health Services: Evidence from Louisiana's Medicaid Expansion
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
On July 1, 2016, Louisiana expanded Medicaid income eligibility limits for parents from 24% to 138% of the federal poverty level resulting in substantial insurance coverage gains. Several studies have documented the effects of Medicaid enrollment on individuals’ use of health care services, but far fewer have focused on spillovers to the children of those gaining coverage. Using a difference-in-differences (DD) regression analysis and Louisiana Medicaid administrative data, I estimate the effect of Medicaid expansion on well-child visits and dental exam visits for children ages 3 to 17. The treatment group is comprised of children with Medicaid coverage whose parents became newly enrolled in Medicaid after expansion. The control group consists of children covered by Medicaid whose parents were consistently enrolled in Medicaid before and after expansion. The results suggest that children whose parents gained coverage under expansion are 2.2 percentage points more likely to have at least one well-child visit and 0.4 percentage points more likely to have a dental exam in the following year. These effects are larger for children under age 12 and for households with 5 or more members.
