Eligibility Recertification and Dynamic Opt-In Incentives in Income-Tested Social Programs: Evidence from Medicaid/CHIP
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Abstract
Conventional labor supply studies assume constant eligibility monitoring of income-tested program participants, but the time between two consecutive eligibility certifications (the "recertification period") can be as long as a year for Medicaid/CHIP recipients. In this paper, I study the optimal recertification period for this population. A long recertification period, while reducing monitoring costs, is predicted to induce program participation via temporary income adjustments. However, I find no support for this prediction using the 2001 and 2004 Survey of Income and Program Participation. Given this, I propose a simple framework to compute the optimal recertification period and find 12 months to be its lower bound.Citation
Pei, Zhuan. 2017. "Eligibility Recertification and Dynamic Opt-In Incentives in Income-Tested Social Programs: Evidence from Medicaid/CHIP." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 9 (1): 241-76. DOI: 10.1257/pol.20130271Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- H75 State and Local Government: Health; Education; Welfare; Public Pensions
- I18 Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
- I38 Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
- J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
- J22 Time Allocation and Labor Supply
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