What Are the Efects of Children’s Health Insurance Program Expansion on Health Insurance Coverage and Self-rated Health of Immigrant Children?

Chaegyung Jun

After the reauthorization of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in 2009, 21 states and DC raised their CHIP income eligibility thresholds to further reduce the number of uninsured immigrant children. This study utilizes the 2008 panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation to examine the impact of expansions on public insurance enrollment and self-rated health among foreign-born children who became newly eligible for CHIP. Using a difference-in-differences approach, I find that the expansions increased public insurance enrollment among the targeted foreign-born children and among U.S.-born children with foreign-born parents in expansion states. However, there was no evidence of a statistically significant relationship between the expansions and self-rated health for foreign-born children. This suggests that CHIPRA improved coverage for both foreign-born children and U.S.-born children with foreign-born parents, but the policy effects on coverage may not be different from those experienced by the U.S.-born children with U.S.-born parents.

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 Presented in Session 2. Children & Youth