State Responses to Federal Matching Grants: The Case of Medicaid
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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
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Number |
647
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Date Published |
02/2021
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URL | |
Working Papers
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