NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH
NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH

Medicaid Managed Care: Effects on Children's Medicaid Coverage and Utilization

Janet Currie, John Fahr

NBER Working Paper No. 8812
Issued in February 2002
NBER Program(s):   CH   HC   PE

We use data from the National Health Interview Surveys to measure the effects of the growth of Medicaid managed care on children. We examine both the probability that individual children were Medicaid-covered and their utilization of care. We find that managed care penetration has significant effects on the composition of the Medicaid caseload. Poor white and Hispanic children are more likely to be enrolled in Medicaid where Medicaid managed care organizations are more prevalent, whereas black children are less likely to be enrolled. Also, toddlers are less likely to be enrolled than school age children. These lower enrollment rates are linked to increases in the numbers of black children and toddlers who go without any doctor visits in a year. Our results are consistent with cream-skimming by Medicaid managed care organizations along the lines of race and age.

download in pdf format
   (154 K)

email paper

The NBER Bulletin on Aging and Health provides summaries of publications like this.  You can sign up to receive the NBER Bulletin on Aging and Health by email.

Published: Currie, Janet and John Fahr. "Medicaid Managed Care: Effects On Children's Medicaid Coverage And Utilization," Journal of Public Economics, 2005, v89(1,Jan), 85-108.

This paper is available as PDF (154 K) or via email.

Machine-readable bibliographic record - MARC, RIS, BibTeX

 
Publications
Activities
Meetings
Data
People
About

Support
National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138; 617-868-3900; email: info@nber.org

Contact Us