Sarah Miller, University of Michigan

Multi-Generational Impacts of Childhood Access to the Safety Net: Early Life Exposure to Medicaid and the Next Generation's Health

Abstract

We examine multi-generational impacts of positive in utero and early life health interventions using state-year variation in public health insurance expansions that targeted low-income pregnant women and children. We use administrative records on vital statistics to create a dataset linking individuals’ childhood Medicaid exposure to the next generation’s health outcomes at birth. We take advantage of the sharp nature of increases in prenatal Medicaid coverage that occurred to certain cohorts in specific states in an event study framework. We find robust evidence that the health benefits associated with treated generations’ early life access to Medicaid extend to later offspring’s birth outcomes. Our results imply that the return on investment is larger than suggested by evaluations of the program that focus only on treated cohorts.

Sarah Miller is Assistant Professor, Business Economics and Public Policy, Ross School of Business at University of Michigan

She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from University of Illinois

Her research interests are healthcare and health economics, business economics, and public policy.

You can read more about Sarah Miller and her research here

CEBI contact: Miriam  Wust