The Impact of Medicaid Expansion on Voter Participation: Evidence from the Oregon Health Insurance Experiment / Katherine Baicker, Amy Finkelstein.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baicker, Katherine.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Finkelstein, Amy.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w25244.

NBER working paper series no. w25244

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Impact of Medicaid Expansion on Voter Participation

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2018.

Summary:

In 2008, a group of uninsured low-income adults in Oregon was selected by lottery for the chance to apply for Medicaid. Using this randomized design and state administrative data on voter behavior, we analyze how a Medicaid expansion affected voter turnout and registration. We find that Medicaid increased voter turnout in the November 2008 Presidential election by about 7 percent overall, with the effects concentrated in men (18 percent increase) and in residents of democratic counties (10 percent increase); there is suggestive evidence that the increase in voting reflected new voter registrations, rather than increased turnout among pre-existing registrants. There is no evidence of an increase in voter turnout in subsequent elections, up to and including the November 2010 midterm election.

Notes:

Print version record

November 2018.