Extended Postpartum Medicaid Eligibility Is Associated With Improved Continuity Of Coverage In The Postpartum Year

(joint work with Sarah Gordon, Jamie Daw, and Lindsay Admon). Differences in eligibility criteria for women seeking Medicaid coverage before and after birth create an “enrollment cliff” in which many women who qualified for Medicaid while pregnant lose coverage sixty days following their delivery. In this working paper, we use a regression-discontinuity design to assess the effects of losing this coverage on health service use and insurance enrollment outcomes. Women who lost their eligibility subsequently experienced more gaps and disruptions to their insurance coverage, resulting in fewer services and worse health outcomes.