Stephen Zuckerman, Ph.D. and Timothy Waidmann, Ph.D.

Stephen Zuckerman, Ph.D., principal research associate in the Health Policy Center of the Urban Institute, and Timothy Waidmann, Ph.D., senior research associate in the Health Policy Center of the Urban Institute, are currently the co-principal investigators on a HCFO study examining the impacts of undocumented immigrants on the U.S. health care system. This project will also explore how efforts to secure citizenship for undocumented immigrants could increase access to public and private insurance for this population. The researchers will consider how much undocumented immigrants have contributed to the rate of uninsurance and to growth in the numbers of non-elderly uninsured in recent years. They will examine how much uncompensated care U.S. providers deliver to undocumented immigrants who lack health insurance coverage, and also to what extent undocumented children and adults would qualify for Medicaid or SCHIP coverage if they became legal residents. Through this research, Dr. Zuckerman and Dr. Waidmann hope to provide current estimates of the actual burden of undocumented immigrants on the health care system to help inform public discussion on policy options.

Dr. Zuckerman has more than two decades of experience studying issues related to health economics and health policy. Currently, his research interests include state health policy, Medicaid managed care, pay for performance, and Medicare physician payment. This work also addresses such issues as the cost of practices becoming medical homes, crowd-out of private coverage by SCHIP, state coverage expansion for adults, the health care safety net, and survey approaches for measuring insurance coverage.

Dr. Zuckerman received his Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University. Before joining the Urban Institute, he worked at the American Medical Association's Center for Health Policy Research. He also directed the health care component of the National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) and the Assessing the New Federalism's household survey. Additionally, Dr. Zuckerman led the evaluation of the Medicaid waiver program operating in Los Angeles County. Between 2000 and 2002, Dr. Zuckerman served as the principal investigator on a HCFO study which examined the impact of Medicaid managed care on access to care and service use. More information about this grant and resulting publications can be found here.

Dr. Waidmann has experience in a variety of areas in health policy, including aging, disability, long-term care, Medicare, and vulnerable populations. His ongoing research includes projects examining the population health impacts of geographic variation in medical care utilization among the elderly, a Medicare buy-in program for the near-elderly, and the testing of alternative specifications of health status in econometric models of retirement. Before joining the Urban Institute, his research focused on the economics and demography of health, disability, and retirement. Dr. Waidmann has also conducted research on the welfare economics of social insurance and the effects of government social insurance programs on labor force behavior.

Dr. Waidmann received his M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan. Prior to joining the Urban Institute, Dr. Waidmann was an assistant professor of public health policy and administration at the University of Michigan. He was also a National Institute on Aging Post-doctoral Research Fellow in the Population Studies Center and Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan.

For more information about Stephen Zuckerman, Ph.D., and a list of his publications, please see www.urban.org/health_policy/about/zuckerman.cfm?page=1.

For more information about Timothy Waidmann, Ph.D., and a list of his publications, please see www.urban.org/health_policy/about/waidmann.cfm?page=1.