Question

"Read the following abstract from the research article entitled "The poverty-reducing effect of Medicaid" by Benjamin D. Sommers and Donald Oellerich and answer the following questions.

"Medicaid provides health insurance for 54 million Americans. Using the Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure (which subtracts out-of-pocket medical expenses from family resources), we estimated the impact of eliminating Medicaid. In our counterfactual, Medicaid beneficiaries would become uninsured or gain other insurance. Counterfactual medical expenditures were drawn stochastically from propensity-score-matched individuals without Medicaid. While this method captures the importance of risk protection, it likely underestimates Medicaid’s impact due to unobserved differences between Medicaid and non-Medicaid individuals. Nonetheless, we find that Medicaid reduces out-of-pocket medical spending from $871 to $376 per beneficiary, and decreases poverty rates by 1.0% among children, 2.2% among disabled adults, and 0.7% among elderly individuals. When factoring in institutionalized populations, an additional 500,000 people were kept out of poverty. Overall, Medicaid kept at least 2.6 million—and as many as 3.4 million—out of poverty in 2010, making it the U.S.’s third largest anti-poverty program."

a)Is the research quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods? How do you know?

b) Basic or applied? How do you know?

c) Descriptive or causal? How do you know?

d) Primary or secondary data? How do you know?

e) Primary or secondary research? How do you know?

f) What is the population of interest in the study? What is the sample?

Answer 1

This quantitative, applied research explores the causal impact of Medicaid on poverty rates and medical spending, utilizing a mix of primary data from Medicaid beneficiaries and secondary data for counterfactual scenarios. The population of interest comprises 54 million Americans with Medicaid, forming a sample that informs the study's findings on poverty reduction.

Step-by-step explanation:

a) The research is quantitative. This is evident from the use of numerical data, statistical measures, and the estimation of the impact of eliminating Medicaid on out-of-pocket medical spending, poverty rates, and the number of people kept out of poverty.

b) The research is applied. It focuses on assessing the impact of Medicaid on poverty rates and out-of-pocket medical spending, which has practical implications for policy and decision-making.

c) The research is causal. It aims to estimate the causal effect of Medicaid on reducing poverty rates and out-of-pocket medical spending by using a counterfactual analysis.

d) The research uses a combination of primary and secondary data. The primary data include information on Medicaid beneficiaries and their medical expenditures, while the counterfactual medical expenditures are drawn from propensity-score-matched individuals without Medicaid, which constitutes secondary data.

e) The research is primary. The authors collected data specifically for their study, including information on Medicaid beneficiaries and their medical expenditures. However, they also utilize secondary data for the counterfactual scenario.

f) The population of interest in the study is Americans who are Medicaid beneficiaries. The sample includes individuals covered by Medicaid, and for the counterfactual scenario, it includes propensity-score-matched individuals without Medicaid whose data is drawn from secondary sources.