Out of the Woodwork: Enrollment Spillovers in the Oregon Health Insurance Experiment
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
vol. 14,
no. 3, August 2022
(pp. 273-95)
Abstract
We study the impact of expanded adult Medicaid eligibility on the enrollment of already-eligible children. We analyze the 2008 Oregon Medicaid lottery, in which some low-income uninsured adults were randomly selected to be allowed to apply for Medicaid. Children in these households were eligible for Medicaid irrespective of the lottery outcome. We estimate statistically significant but transitory impacts of adult lottery selection on child Medicaid enrollment: at three months after the lottery, for every nine adults who enrolled in Medicaid due to winning the lottery, one additional child also enrolled. Our results shed light on the existence, magnitude, and nature of so-called "woodwork effects."Citation
Sacarny, Adam, Katherine Baicker, and Amy Finkelstein. 2022. "Out of the Woodwork: Enrollment Spillovers in the Oregon Health Insurance Experiment." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 14 (3): 273-95. DOI: 10.1257/pol.20200172Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- G22 Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies
- H75 State and Local Government: Health; Education; Welfare; Public Pensions
- I13 Health Insurance, Public and Private
- I18 Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
- I38 Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
- J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
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