TY  - JOUR
AU  - Chatterji,Pinka
AU  - Meara,Ellen
TI  - Consequences of Eliminating Federal Disability Benefits for Substance Abusers
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13407
PY  - 2007
Y2  - September 2007
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13407
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13407.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Pinka Chatterji
State University of New York at Albany
Economics Department
Business Administration 111A
1400 Washington Avenue
Albany, NY  12222
Tel: 518/442-4746
E-Mail: pchatterji@albany.edu

Ellen Meara
Department of Health Care Policy
Harvard Medical School
180 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115-5899
Tel: 617/432-3537
Fax: 617/432-0173
E-Mail: meara@hcp.med.harvard.edu
AB  - Using annual, repeated cross-sections from national household survey data, we estimate how the January 1997 termination of federal disability insurance, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Disability Insurance (DI), for those with Drug Addiction and Alcoholism affected labor market outcomes among individuals targeted by the legislation. We also examine whether the policy change affected health insurance, health care utilization, and arrests.   We employ propensity score methods to address differences in observed characteristics between substance users and others, and we used a difference-in-difference-in-difference approach to mitigate potential omitted variables bias.  In the short-run (1997-1999), declines in SSI receipt accompanied appreciable increases in labor force participation and current employment.   There was little measurable effect of the policy change on insurance and utilization, but we have limited power to detect effects on these outcomes.  In the long-run (1999-2002), the rate of SSI receipt returned to earlier levels, and short-run gains in labor market outcomes waned.
ER  -