The enactment of The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 is likely to affect aspects of the safety-net for many families. Prior to welfare reform, families eligible for cash assistance were automatically eligible for Medicaid, the joint federal/state health care program for the poor. Welfare reform's decoupling of these two programs is likely to have implications on the health insurance status for low-income families. The proposed study will fill the gaps in the literature regarding families leaving welfare as it relates to their health insurance status, with particular attention paid to Medicaid participation. The proposed research will utilize a large, national post-welfare reform sample with quantitative methods (multivariate logistic regression) to address the following aims: * Determine if the prospect of not having health insurance coverage after leaving welfare is a barrier for families to leave; * Determine if a family leaving welfare has health insurance coverage; * Assess what factors predict participation in Medicaid when families are eligible; * Identify the predictors of a family's health insurance coverage after welfare; and * Determine policy implications of welfare reform on health insurance coverage for beneficiaries, government and employers.
