RESEARCH TO POLICY: HEALTH INSURANCE
MIT economists Finkelstein and Gruber demonstrate the health and financial benefits of Medicaid
Landmark study shows the effects of Medicaid:
better health and financial security for the poor,
more bills paid for hospitals and doctors.
New York Times Editorial
"Critics of Medicaid have made the outlandish claim that it provides such poor care that enrollees would be better off having no coverage....Those claims have now been refuted by a new study...conducted under the leadership of Amy Finkelstein, an economics professor at MIT, and Katherine Baicker, a Harvard health economics professor who was an adviser to President George W. Bush. It found that Medicaid patients reported both better health and more financial stability than uninsured poor people."
Full editorial at The New York Times
Story at MIT News
Medicaid's impact, finally measured
"Enrolling in Medicaid significantly improves the overall health and financial stability of low-income Americans, and leads to more bills paid for hospitals and doctors, according to a new study co-authored by MIT researchers. The research shows that Medicaid recipients are far more likely to receive health care than the uninsured."
Full story by Peter Dizikes at MIT News
Suggested Links
Amy Finkelstein
Department of Economics webpage
Jonathan Gruber
Department of Economics webpage