Medicaid expansion and child maltreatment

Abstract

With the recent major changes to the Medicaid program through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and through individual states' expansions to Medicaid, more effort has been applied to understanding the effects of the Medicaid program beyond health. The prevalence of child maltreatment among families of low-income and poor health motivates the question of how expansions to Medicaid may affect child maltreatment. This study contributes to the literature by examining the contemporaneous effects of changes to Medicaid on child maltreatment. I find that increased Medicaid eligibility reduces the incidence of both reported and substantiated child neglect and child sex abuse.