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Medicare and the Geography of Financial Health

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  • Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham
  • Maxim Pinkovskiy
  • Jacob Wallace

Abstract

We use a five percent sample of Americans' credit bureau data to study the effects of public health insurance on the geography of consumer financial health. Exploiting the (nearly) universal eligibility for Medicare at age 65, we find a 30 percent reduction in debt collections with limited effects on other financial outcomes. Medicare reduces the geographic variation in collections by two-thirds at age 65, and halves the geographic correlation between collections and demographics like race and education. Areas that experienced larger gains in financial health at age 65 had higher shares of black residents, people with disabilities, and for-profit hospitals.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham & Maxim Pinkovskiy & Jacob Wallace, 2020. "Medicare and the Geography of Financial Health," Working Papers 2020-004, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    • Handle: RePEc:hka:wpaper:2020-004
    Note: MIP
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Tal Gross & Timothy J. Layton & Daniel Prinz, 2022. "The Liquidity Sensitivity of Healthcare Consumption: Evidence from Social Security Payments," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 4(2), pages 175-190, June.
    2. Nicole Gorton & Maxim L. Pinkovskiy, 2021. "Credit Access and Mobility during the Flint Water Crisis," Staff Reports 960, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    3. Michael Batty & Christa Gibbs & Benedic Ippolito, 2022. "Health insurance, medical debt, and financial well‐being," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(5), pages 689-728, May.
    4. repec:aei:rpaper:1008569439 is not listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    credit bureau data; public health insurance; geographic variation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private
    • E50 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - General
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination

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