Does Expanding Medicaid Eligibility for Children Reduce Racial Disparities in Later-Life Labor Market Outcomes?

Grantee

Aparna Soni, American UniversityFollow

Grant Type

Early Career Research Award

Description

This project will assess whether public health insurance expansions for children reduce racial disparities in later-life labor market outcomes. My analysis will leverage a 1990 federal policy that increased Medicaid eligibility for children born after September 30, 1983. This resulted in a large discontinuity in cumulative years of eligibility of children born after the date cutoff. As a result of this policy, Black children experienced a much larger increase in insurance coverage than children of other races. Using nationally representative longitudinal survey data and a regression discontinuity design that compares outcomes of people born just before versus just after the cutoff, I will examine the effect of the policy on later-life labor market outcomes for Black and non-Black individuals. The results of this study will shed light on the long-term economic returns to public investments in children through policies such as Medicaid expansion.