TY  - JOUR
AU  - Kaestner,Robert
AU  - Dubay,Lisa
AU  - Kenney,Genevieve
TI  - Medicaid Managed Care and Infant Health: A National Evaluation
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 8936
PY  - 2002
Y2  - May 2002
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w8936
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w8936.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Robert Kaestner
Institute of Government and Public Affairs
University of Illinois
815 West Van Buren Street, Suite 525
Chicago, IL  60607
Tel: 312/996-8227
E-Mail: kaestner.robert@gmail.com

Lisa Dubay
Urban Institute
2100 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
Tel: 202/857-8539
Fax: 202/223-1149
E-Mail: ldubay@ui.urban.org

Genevieve Kenney
E-Mail: jkenney@ui.urban.org
AB  - In this study, we examine the effects of Medicaid managed care (MMC) on prenatal care utilization and infant health.  We obtain separate estimates of the effect of primary care case management (PCCM) managed care programs and HMO managed care plans on prenatal care utilization, birth weight, and cesarean section. The results suggest the following: MMC was associated with a small, clinically unimportant decrease in the number of prenatal care visits; MMC had no statistically significant relationship to the APNCU index of the adequacy of prenatal care; MMC was associated with a significant increase in the incidence of low-birth weight and pre-term birth; and MMC had no association with the incidence of cesarean section.  We argue that a causal interpretation of the first and third findings is unsupported by a careful reading of the evidence, and we conclude that Medicaid managed care had virtually no causal effect on, prenatal care use, birth outcomes, and cesarean section.
ER  -