Venue: The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, 1 Towerview Drive, Durham, NC 27708-0120

 

Presentation

Do Public Health Insurance Expansions for Children Improve Parental Labor Market Outcomes Through the 'Crowdout' Effect?

Authors: Jamie Rubenstein (Cornell University); Kosali Ilayperuma Simon (Cornell University)

Presenter: Jamie Rubenstein (Cornell University)

Discussant: Bowen Garrett (Urban Institute)

Session: Labor

Room: Classroom F

When: Tuesday 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Public health insurance expansions for children provide an alternative to employment-related coverage for some working families. While many studies investigate the magnitude by which public insurance expansions 'crowdout' private coverage, we ask a question new to the literature. Are such families able to recoup the benefits of no longer relying on employer provided coverage for children when they move to public coverage? We study how parental wages and hours are affected by children's movements from employer coverage to public coverage that are spurred by public health insurance expansions for children. We provide ordinary least squares estimates of labor market outcomes as a function of public insurance status, and find a strong negative relationship. To control for the endogeneity of the switch from private to public health insurance, we then instrument for public health insurance using a measure of eligibility based on state policies. Our preliminary study using matched CPS data indicate some possible labor market improvements.