Essays on health insurance coverage and food assistance programs
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Daniela Zapata Sapiencia (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- David Ribar
Abstract: Empirical work shows that health insurance coverage improves children's health and that healthier children have better educational and labor market outcomes. This suggests that the benefits of higher insurance rates among children go beyond improvements in health. However, there are no investigations in the United States that track the long-term socioeconomic benefits of health insurance coverage during childhood. Using data from the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to estimate family fixed effects models, I find evidence that health insurance coverage at ages 0-4 has a positive effect on test scores in mathematics, reading recognition, reading comprehension, and vocabulary at ages 5-14. The second essay in this dissertation, co-authored with Charles Courtemanche, investigates the effect of the Massachusetts health care reform on self-reported health. The main objective of this reform was to achieve universal health insurance coverage through a combination of insurance market reforms, mandates, and subsidies. This reform was later used as a model for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). Using individual-level data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and a difference in differences estimation strategy, this essay provides evidence that this reform led to better overall self-assessed health. Several determinants of overall health, including physical health, mental health, functional limitations, joint disorders, body mass index, and moderate physical activity also improved. Public food assistance programs share the fundamental goal of helping needy and vulnerable people in the U.S. obtain access to nutritious foods that they might not otherwise be able to afford. These programs also have other objectives, such as improving recipients' health, furthering children's development and school performance. To investigate these broader impacts, the third chapter of this dissertation, co-authored with David Ribar, examines the relationship between participation in food assistance programs, family routines and time use. Results from fixed effects models estimated using longitudinal data from the Three-City Study indicate that SNAP participation is negatively associated with homework routines. WIC participation on the other hand, is positively associated with family routines in general and with dinner routines, homework routines, and family-time routines in particular.
Essays on health insurance coverage and food assistance programs
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Created on 12/1/2012
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Dissertation
- Language: English
- Date: 2012
- Keywords
- Children, Food Assistance Programs, Health, Health Care Reform, Health Insurance, Universal Coverage
- Subjects
- Child health services $z United States
- Health insurance $z United States
- Massachusetts. $t Health Care Reform Act
- Health care reform $z United States
- Food relief $z United States