Welfare Reform and Childhood Health Status and Utilization

In the 1990’s, the United States reformed its welfare system through state waivers and the creation of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. These changes altered family insurance access and economic resources available to invest the health of children. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development Supplement, I examine the impact of these reforms on objective and subjective measures of child health and measures of healthcare utilization. I find welfare reform is associated with improvements among the subjective health of children by an expected 9 additional healthy days a year but no significant improvements in objective measures of chronic health. These children are also 8% more likely to be covered by health insurance. Given the evidence in the literature on the importance of childhood health, these findings potentially have large ramifications for future adult health