THE OREGON HEALTH INSURANCE EXPERIMENT: EVIDENCE FROM THE FIRST YEAR.
Publication Title
The quarterly journal of economics
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-1-2012
Keywords
oregon; core; diversity
Abstract
In 2008, a group of uninsured low-income adults in Oregon was selected by lottery to be given the chance to apply for Medicaid. This lottery provides an opportunity to gauge the effects of expanding access to public health insurance on the health care use, financial strain, and health of low-income adults using a randomized controlled design. In the year after random assignment, the treatment group selected by the lottery was about 25 percentage points more likely to have insurance than the control group that was not selected. We find that in this first year, the treatment group had substantively and statistically significantly higher health care utilization (including primary and preventive care as well as hospitalizations), lower out-of-pocket medical expenditures and medical debt (including fewer bills sent to collection), and better self-reported physical and mental health than the control group.
Specialty/Research Institute
Health Care Administration
Specialty/Research Institute
Population Health
Specialty/Research Institute
Center for Outcomes Research and Education (CORE)
DOI
10.1093/qje/qjs020
