The Influence of Paid Work, Race-Ethnicity, and Immigrant Status on Health Care Coverage after Welfare Reform in Hennepin County, Minnesota

A random sample of 84 past and present Temporary Assistance to Needy Families recipients in Hennepin County, Minnesota, were interviewed regarding their health care coverage and corresponding work histories over a 42-month period. Diverse racial-ethnic and immigrant groups of color were oversampled. A life history calendar technique and supplementary interview questions were utilized. The researchers found an inverse relationship between amount of paid work and health care coverage. Different racial-ethnic and immigrant groups had different patterns of health care coverage that were not explained sufficiently by amount of paid work. The authors posit that a lack of a publicly known linkage between paid work and Medicaid resulted in uninsurance for low-income workers and call for further research to explain different insurance patterns among racial-ethnic groups.