The Long-Term Impacts of Medicaid in Early Childhood

This paper examines the long-term impact of exposure to Medicaid in early childhood on adult health and economic status by leveraging the programs gradual adoption across the states. The staggered timing of Medicaids adoption created plausibly exogenous variation in cumulative exposure to Medicaid for birth cohorts that are now in adulthood. Results suggest that in subgroups targeted by the program, exposure to Medicaid in childhood (age 0-5) is associated with statistically significant and meaningful improvements in adult health (age 18-54). We find no evidence for an economic effect.