matching grants

Author
Abstract

While Medicaid is currently financed by open-ended matching, in which the federal government pays an uncapped percentage of program expenditures, there has been interest in trans-forming the financing structure to block grants, which limits federal cost-sharing to a fixed amount. To understand the implications of this reform, I measure the effect of match rates on Medicaid spending by using the variation induced by a kink in the match rate formula. I find that a percentage point increase in the federal match raises per-beneficiary spending by 3 percent. Using this estimate, I discuss the welfare impact of a block grant reform.

Year of Publication
2021
Number
647
Date Published
02/2021
Leung, P. (2021). State Responses to Federal Matching Grants: The Case of Medicaid. Retrieved from http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01dr26z1451 (Original work published February 2021)
Working Papers