Impact of Children's Health Insurance Bene fit on Labor Supply: Evidence from Newly Arrived Immigrants in the United States

Abstract

This paper exploits the State Children's Health Insurance Program of the United States to investigate impact of a publicly funded health insurance benefit for children on work behavior of adult men and women. Drawing data from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey and employing a triple- difference identification strategy, I find that public health insurance benefit for children decreases labor supply of women but increases that of men. Estimates suggest that, on average, labor force participation rate of women decreased by 7.4 percentage points while that of men increased by 5.5 percentage points as their families became eligible for State Children's Health Insurance Program. The findings are supported by a number of robustness checks and a falsification exercise.