Medicaid expansion was followed by higher educational attainment
Sorry for my absence. This is mainly a link to this post by Emily Badger at the still excellent wonkblog.
just a quote
a 10 percentage point increase in Medicaid eligibility among children in a state translated into a 5.2 percent decline in high school dropouts (among all students), a 1.1 percent increase in college attendance, and a 3.2 percent increase in students completing bachelor’s degrees.
It is yet another addition to the new evidence that safety net programs have beneficial side effects in addition to their direct benefits.
As if we really need objective proof that, as part of a collective effort by all of us using our government, saving parents from financial disaster will have many spin-off benefits for their children!!! At some point decency should be its own reward, and recognition that important benefits will flow from it should be an article of faith. The supposedly hard-nosed conservatives and so-called “centrists” who force those trained in scientific methods to do duhhhh studies like this — instead of genuinely worthwhile research that advances our knowledge — are nothing more nor less than jerks who deserve a special place in hell for it.