TY  - JOUR
AU  - Borjas,George J.
TI  - Welfare Reform, Labor Supply, and Health Insurance in the Immigrant Population
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 9781
PY  - 2003
Y2  - June 2003
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9781
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9781.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
George J. Borjas
Harvard Kennedy School
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617/495-1393
Fax: 617/495-9532
E-Mail: gborjas@harvard.edu
M2  - featured in NBER digest on 2003-12-01
AB  - Although the 1996 welfare reform legislation limited the eligibility of immigrant households to receive assistance, many states chose to protect their immigrant populations by offering state-funded aid to these groups. I exploit these changes in eligibility rules to examine the link between the welfare cutbacks and health insurance coverage in the immigrant population. The data reveal that the cutbacks in the Medicaid program did not reduce health insurance coverage rates among targeted immigrants. The immigrants responded by increasing their labor supply, thereby raising the probability of being covered by employer-sponsored health insurance.
ER  -