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  3. Journal of Economic Perspectives
  4. Fall 1997
  5. Policy Watch: Medicaid and Uninsured Women and Children

Journal of Economic Perspectives

ISSN 0895-3309 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7965 (Online)

Policy Watch: Medicaid and Uninsured Women and Children

  • Jonathan Gruber
Journal of Economic Perspectives
vol. 11, no. 4, Fall 1997
(pp. 199–208)
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Abstract

This paper focuses on the role of Medicaid, the public health insurance program for low income populations, as a means of reducing uninsurance among uninsured women and children. The author discusses the structure of the Medicaid program and recent findings of its effects on insurance status, medical utilization, and health. He concludes that public insurance can be a cost-effective tool for reducing uninsurance and improving health, but only if eligibility is targeted to populations in need of insurance; expansions up the income scale should be accompanied by other program features that minimize substitution of private insurance, such as cost-sharing.

Citation

Gruber, Jonathan. 1997. "Policy Watch: Medicaid and Uninsured Women and Children." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 11 (4): 199–208. DOI: 10.1257/jep.11.4.199

JEL Classification

  • I38 Welfare and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
  • J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
  • J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
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