We investigate the association between the 1996 welfare reform and health insurance, medical care use and health of low-educated, foreign-born, single mothers and their children. We find that welfare reform was associated with an eight to 11.5 percentage points increase in proportion uninsured among low-educated foreign-born, single mothers. We also find that the decline in welfare caseload since 1996 was associated with a 6.5 to 10 percentage points increase in the proportion of low-educated foreign-born, single mothers reporting delays in receiving medical care or receiving no care due to cost and a nine percentage points decline in visits to a health professional in the past 12 months. We do not find any consistent evidence that welfare reform affected the health insurance, medical care utilization and health of children living with single mothers. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2006.

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immigrant educational status medically uninsured lowest income group health care policy health insurance human priority journal health status United States health care cost health program Humans Adolescent female Infant Child, Preschool socioeconomics Child Welfare social welfare health services Article health care utilization adult single parent Emigration and Immigration maternal welfare social medicine Data Collection Child