Pregnancy and the Labor Market over the Business Cycle
- Presenter:
Chair: Frank Sloan; Discussant: Rebecca Stein Tue June 6, 2006 15:30-17:00 Room 326
This study examines health outcomes resulting from participation in a prenatal social program established for Medicaid eligible women in the state of Georgia during the period 1994 through 2003, which included a period of rapid growth and a period of recession, as well as a period of rapid change in the welfare system. It is expected that the characteristics of the Medicaid recipients during this time period varied due to both welfare reform and the business cycle. Thus it is expected that there will be a differential impact of participation in health care programs designed for Medicaid beneficiaries. The impact of the change in characteristics is unknown. For example, one might expect that individuals moving on to Medicaid during the recession may not benefit from program participation as those already on Medicaid as these individuals have higher levels of income prerecession. Conversely, the benefit may be greater if the individuals moving on to Medicaid rolls were part of the uninsured working poor and thus come onto Medicaid with a lower stock of health. In this research, we examine the impact of the Perinatal Case Management program in Georgia, which is designed to assist pregnant women who are Medicaid eligible to gain access to medical, nutritional, social, and educational services. The goal of this research is to estimate the impact of program participation on prenatal care utilization, birth weight, and length of gestation, while considering the selectivity resulting from using the sample of live births to estimate these variables of interest and changes in welfare coverage and the business cycle. Estimation is carried out using both parametric and semi-parametric methods. The models are estimated using a rich data set covering women who gave birth in the years 1994-2003 in the state of Georgia. This data set includes information on the named parent(s)’s socioeconomic and demographic conditions and medical data on the pregnancy and related and unrelated comorbid conditions. The data is merged with information on employment histories from the state unemployment insurance data, as well as data on welfare program participation and neighborhood (tract level) characteristics. Preliminary results from one year of analysis (1997) indicate that the consumption of prenatal care is higher for participating women than non-participants. Furthermore, there is a positive direct impact on length of gestation and thus, an indirect benefit to birth weight.
