Working paper
Medicaid and the Labor Supply of Single Mothers: Implications for Health Care Reform
Abstract: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) substantially expands Medicaid eligibility and introduces health insurance subsidies. This health care reform changes work incentives since eligibility for these programs depends on income and earnings. To assess the employment effects of PPACA among single mothers, I estimate a structural model of labor supply of individuals who can obtain health insurance through their employer. Alternatively, they may be eligible for Medicaid coverage. I estimate the model exploiting exogenous variation in Medicaid policies across states and using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Then I use the estimated preference parameters to simulate single mothers’ employment choice under health care reform. The simulation results show that single mothers are about six percent more likely to participate in the labor force due to PPACA. They also increase their labor supply from part-time to full-time work by about five percent. Moreover, I find crowding-out of employer-sponsored health insurance of about 40 percent in this population. The welfare implications of this reform are positive.
Work in progress
The Marriage Market Ratio and Investment in Health
The Impact of Hospitalizations on Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from Chile (with Christopher Neilson and Francisco Parro)
Health Shocks in European Labor Markets (with Joachim Marti and Michael Richards)
Publication
Medical Guidelines, Physician Density, and Quality of Care: Evidence from German SHARE Data (with Hendrik Jürges), European Journal of Health Economics 13(5), October 2012, pp. 635-649
Abstract: We use German SHARE data to study the relationship between district general practitioner density and the quality of preventive care provided to older adults. We measure physician quality of care as the degree of adherence to medical guidelines (for the management of risk factors for cardiovascular disease and the prevention of falls) as reported by patients. Contrary to theoretical expectations, we find only weak and insignificant effects of physician density on quality of care. Our results shed doubt on the notion that increasing physician supply will increase the quality of care provided in Germany’s present health care system.
Teaching
Labour Economics and Industrial Relations, Winter 2013
