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grants relating to assessment processes and interventions aimed at improving learning objective attainment. Prior to his University assignments he was the Founder and CEO of the The EDI Group, Ltd., an independent professional services company specializing in B2B electronic commerce and electronic data interchange; and a Vice President at the First National Bank of Chicago, where he founded and managed the bank's market leading professional Cash Management Consulting Group and initiated the bank's non credit service product management organization and profit center profitability programs.

BackgroundMany states expanded Medicaid eligibility under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Medicaid expansion might impact infant mortality through improved maternal health prior to pregnancy and reduced insurance churn. Some studies suggest the PPACA had no significant impact on low birth weight or preterm birth, while others suggest that the PPACA led to a significant decrease in infant mortality.MethodsUsing a difference-in-differences estimator with fixed effects to control for differences in state characteristics and time trends we analyse three samples of births from the CDC’s linked birth/death files from 2011 to 2017 to estimate the impact of Medicaid expansion on infant mortality.ResultsWe find mixed results. In our full sample, we find no statistically significant change in infant mortality associated with PPACA Medicaid expansion. However, when we restrict the sample to states who had adopted the 2003 birth certificate form and when we further exclude states with a Medicaid waiver, in both samples we see reductions in infant mortality for babies born to mothers of all races. When we stratify by race, we find infant mortality decreased for babies born to white mothers. However, this decrease is not seen for babies born to black mothers.ConclusionsMedicaid expansion under the PPACA has an impact on infant mortality, but the results are sensitive to the sample of states included in the study. There is suggestive evidence that Medicaid expansion is not closing the infant mortality gap between black and white babies.

With the increased availability of community care to veterans from the VA MISSION Act, policymakers and providers need to understand how older veterans are insured, particularly before Medicare eligibility at age 65. Using data from 1996 to 2018, this study examines the insurance patterns of veterans prior to the expansion of access to community care through the VA and compares those patterns to nonveterans. This study finds that veterans are more likely to have insurance than nonveterans and that they are less likely to rely on Medicaid and Medicare before age 65. Regression estimates also suggest that veterans with at least some college education are less likely to have private insurance and are more likely to be uninsured than nonveterans with the same educational attainment.

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