The impact of Medicaid expansions on pregnancy resolution and out-of-wedlock births in New York City.
Item
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Title
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The impact of Medicaid expansions on pregnancy resolution and out-of-wedlock births in New York City.
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Identifier
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AAI9707123
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identifier
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9707123
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Creator
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Li, Wenhui.
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Contributor
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Advisers: Michael Grossman | Theodore J. Joyce
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Date
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1996
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Economics, General | Economics, Labor | Sociology, Individual and Family Studies | Health Sciences, Public Health | Political Science, Public Administration
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Abstract
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Recent aggressive Medicaid expansions have substantially lowered the cost of giving birth and of perinatal care for low income pregnant women and their children. This research tries to reveal some impacts of these expansions. First, the effectiveness of the expansions is measured by observing the change in the Medicaid coverage rate before and after the expansions. Second, the author looks at the change in fertility rates in New York City. Medicaid expansions financed birth but not abortion in New York. Consequently, they lowered the cost of birth relatively more than the cost of abortion for the women who were not previously covered by Medicaid. Do these expansions increase the probability of birth? Are there differences in the effects of Medicaid expansions between race and ethnicity? These are the questions that this study tries to answer. Third, some welfare programs, such as Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC), food stamps, and Medicaid, may make single parenthood more economically attractive, but very little literature about the influence of Medicaid on out-of-wedlock birth has been seen. This research also investigates the effects of Medicaid expansions on out-of-wedlock births in New York City.;The major findings are as follows. First, nationally, recent Medicaid expansion indeed significantly increased the Medicaid coverage of medical expenditure for pregnant women, but still plenty of eligible pregnant women under expansion did not receive Medicaid benefits for some reason. Second, in New York City, Medicaid expansions encouraged more poor or near poor pregnant women to choose birth rather than abortion regardless of race or ethnicity. The birth ratio (births divided by births plus abortions) increased approximately 11.1 percent for whites, 5.2 percent for blacks and 3.7 for Hispanics between 1988 and 1991. Third, by controlling for the increasing trend of illegitimate births in the estimates, Medicaid expansion had some impacts on reducing the probability of out-of-wedlock birth for pregnant women among low income whites and blacks in New York City.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
