Supplemental Security Income and Child Outcomes: Evidence from Birth Weight Eligibility Cutoffs

Guldi, Melanie; Hawkins, Amelia; Hemmeter, Jeffrey; Schmidt, Lucie

doi:10.3386/w24913

Cited by 7 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Our study provides a strong economic argument for SSI given the high Medicaid cost burden for low birthweight, preterm infants. In our study, Medicaid spent $5.87 billion on the 2006-2010 birth cohort (continuously enrolled in Medicaid for 8 years, N=185,022) by age 8; within this group, Medicaid costs for the 0.7% of the cohort who were preterm infants whose birthweight fell between 14 Observed average SSI spells, which seem longer than expectation of Guldi et al (2018), may be attributed to lags in administrative decision time. Desphande (2016) reported that over 20% of review cases need at least 1 year for final decision.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

The Effects of Income on Children’s Health: Evidence from Supplemental Security Income Eligibility under New York State Medicaid

Ko¹,

Howland²,

Glied³

2020

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There is a well-established association between income and child health. We examine the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, which provides cash assistance to low-income children with disabilities, to assess how this relationship arises. We use a large database of Medicaid administrative records to estimate the causal effects of SSI receipt on children's health, using a regression discontinuity design that exploits the rule that low-income children born below a birthweight threshold are automatically eligible for SSI. We find that children whose birthweights fall below the threshold are significantly more likely to be awarded SSI. Over the first 8 years of their lives, children with birthweights just below the threshold incur Medicaid expenditures 30% lower than do those born just above the threshold. They are less likely to be admitted to hospital, have shorter hospital stays when admitted, and use fewer specialist services. Eligible children experience reduced rates of diagnosis across a range of conditions, with significantly lower rates of both acute (infection, injury) and chronic (malnutrition, developmental delay) conditions in early life. SSI receipt delays the incidence of new chronic conditions by 1.7 months and reduces the number of new chronic conditions recorded through age 3 by 15%. Past health shocks significantly increase current healthcare utilization, but an interaction term between the SSI eligibility and past health shocks is not statistically significant, a pattern that suggests that increased income derived from SSI reduces the incidence of early health shocks but does not change how families respond to these shocks. Children receiving SSI are more likely to live in higher income neighborhoods mainly because their families are less likely to move out of better neighborhoods. However, we do not find evidence that children's receipt of SSI affects their mother's health or fertility. Reductions in Medicaid spending associated with SSI eligibility offset increased cash transfer payments by a ratio of 3.3:1.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

The Effects of Income on Children’s Health: Evidence from Supplemental Security Income Eligibility under New York State Medicaid

Ko¹,

Howland²,

Glied³

2020

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“…At the county level, we include the number of low birth weight babies per 1,000 births. Very low birth weight can itself qualify an infant for SSI (Guldi, Hawkins, Hemmeter, & Schmidt, 2017) and is also correlated with higher rates of childhood impairments. We also include the percentage of students classified as eligible for special education services, calculated from school district data and aggregated up to the county level.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Child Participation in Supplemental Security Income: Cross- and Within-State Determinants of Caseload Growth

Schmidt

Sevak

2017

Journal of Disability Policy Studies

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Researchers have struggled to explain the substantial growth over recent years in Supplemental Security Income (SSI) receipt among children younger than the age of 18. Although existing studies have examined caseloads at the state level, we explore the possibility that local conditions may play a more important role in driving caseload growth, and that different factors might matter in different parts of the country. In this article, we examine the importance of a number of factors in explaining county-level child SSI caseloads over time. We find that, nationally, these factors explain between 30% and 40% of the 2003 to 2008 growth in SSI caseloads and about 25% of the trend from 2008 to 2011. We also find that the importance of these factors in explaining growth varies substantially regionally and across states, which suggests that national models may lead researchers to overlook important determinants of caseload growth by averaging variation across regions and states. The finding also suggests that state-specific case studies of caseload growth with consideration of local factors may be fruitful in providing additional understanding of the child SSI caseload.

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“…Reichman, Corman, and Noonan (2004) used data from the Fragile Families Study to show that when the child was between 1 and 1.5 years old, mothers with children in poor health were more likely than those with healthy children to rely on TANF and/or SSI. Guldi, Hawkins, Hemmeter, and Schmidt (2018) examined a slightly different question about the impact of child SSI receipt among a narrower population of extremely-low-birth-weight babies and found that eligibility for SSI shifts maternal labor supply from full-time to part-time, as well as improves child outcomes in several dimensions.…”

Section: Existing Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Examining the consequences of poor neonatal health on the family

Luca

Sevak

2022

J. Dem. Econ.

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We compare the trajectories of families who have a child with poor neonatal health compared to those who do not, using administrative birth record data merged with longitudinal household survey data. We apply entropy balancing and weighting methods to enhance comparison between the two types of families. We find that children with poor neonatal health are more likely to be diagnosed with a disability and to receive Supplemental Security Income. Mothers who have children with poor neonatal health are more likely to reduce labor force participation at both the intensive and extensive margins when the child is young. Further, they are more likely to receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. We find no significant effects of poor neonatal health on maternal mental health or household income. Parents who have children with poor neonatal health are significantly less likely to remain married or cohabiting.

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Supplemental Security Income and Child Outcomes: Evidence from Birth Weight Eligibility Cutoffs

Cited by 7 publications

References 41 publications

The Effects of Income on Children’s Health: Evidence from Supplemental Security Income Eligibility under New York State Medicaid

The Effects of Income on Children’s Health: Evidence from Supplemental Security Income Eligibility under New York State Medicaid

Child Participation in Supplemental Security Income: Cross- and Within-State Determinants of Caseload Growth

Examining the consequences of poor neonatal health on the family

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