TY  - JOUR
AU  - Buchmueller, Thomas
AU  - Ham, John C
AU  - Shore-Sheppard, Lara D
TI  - The Medicaid Program
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 21425
PY  - 2015
Y2  - July 2015
DO  - 10.3386/w21425
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w21425
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w21425.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Thomas C. Buchmueller
Stephen M. Ross School of Business
University of Michigan
701 Tappan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Tel: 734/764-5933
E-Mail: tbuch@umich.edu

John Ham
New York University Abu Dhabi
Social Science Building (A5), NYU Abu Dhabi, Saadiyat Campus P.O. Box 12918
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Tel: 971-050-581-5955
E-Mail: john.ham.econ@gmail.com

Lara Shore-Sheppard
Department of Economics
Williams College
24 Hopkins Hall Drive
Williamstown, MA 01267
Tel: 413/597-2226
Fax: 413/597-4045
E-Mail: lshore@williams.edu
M1  - published as Thomas Buchmueller, John C. Ham, Lara D. Shore-Sheppard. "The Medicaid Program," in Robert A. Moffitt, editor, "Economics of Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States, Volume 1" University of Chicago Press (2016)

M3  - presented at "Means-Tested Transfer Programs", December 5-6, 2014
AB  - In both its costs and the number of its enrollees, Medicaid is the largest means-tested transfer program in the United States.  It is also a fundamental part of the health care system, providing health insurance to low-income families, indigent seniors, disabled adults and, in some states, low-income adults more broadly.  This paper reviews the history and structure of the Medicaid program and the large body of economic research that it has spawned in the nearly half century since it was established.  We begin by summarizing the program’s history, goals and current rules.  We then present program statistics, mainly related to enrollment and expenditures.   Finally we turn to the research on the impact of Medicaid on a broad range of outcomes, discussing theoretical and methodological issues important for understanding these effects and reviewing the empirical literature, describing what has been learned thus far, investigating areas where studies seem to reach different conclusions and pointing to areas where we believe additional research would be fruitful.
ER  -