The impact of access to prenatal health insurance for noncitizen women on child health

• Published in: Health services research 2023-10, Vol.58 (5), p.1066-1076
• Main Author: Hwang, Grace
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Access control; Adopted children; Analysis; Birth; Child; Child Health; Child, Preschool; Childbearing; Childbirth & labor; Children; Children & youth; Childrens health; Clinical outcomes; Data collection; Demographic aspects; Empirical analysis; Extraction; Female; Health aspects; Health care policy; Health Insurance; Health Services Accessibility; Health services utilization; Health status; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Insurance; Insurance Coverage; Insurance, Health; Maternal health services; Medicaid; Mothers; Noncitizens; Patient Acceptance of Health Care; Pregnancy; Pregnant women; Prenatal care; Public health; Surveys; United States; Womens health
• ISSN: 0017-9124; 1475-6773; 1475-6773
• DOI: 10.1111/1475-6773.14198

To estimate the effects of prenatal public health insurance targeting noncitizens on the health of U.S.-born children of noncitizen mothers beyond birth outcomes. This paper uses the restricted version of the 1998-2014 National Health Interview Survey with state-level geographic identifiers. The empirical strategy compares outcomes in states that adopted the Children's Health Insurance Plan (CHIP) Unborn Child Option with states that never adopted or adopted it at different times, controlling for differences in the pre-treatment period. I use a flexible event-study analysis to quantify the effects of the Unborn Child Option on noncitizen women's health insurance coverage, health care utilization, and their children's health. All data are derived from pre-existing sources. The study finds that the impact of the Unborn Child Option is a 4.7%-point increase in public health insurance coverage (p