The effect of parental Medicaid expansions on job mobility

In this paper, we examine the effect of parental Medicaid expansions on job mobility. If expanded Medicaid eligibility makes it easier for a person to have health coverage between jobs, we expect it to reduce “job lock” that occurs for workers with employer-provided health insurance. Expanded eligibility could also decrease mobility among those in jobs without health insurance, since they experience less pressure to move to an insured job (“job push”). We find strong evidence that expanded eligibility reduces job lock among unmarried women but not men or married women, and only weak evidence of reduced job push among men.