Amy Finkelstein

The Oregon Health Insurance Experiment was a landmark 2008 study co-led by MIT economist Amy Finkelstein that used a state Medicaid lottery to measure the real-world effects of health insurance. Because Oregon randomly selected low-income adults from a waitlist to receive Medicaid coverage, it created a rare, natural scientific experiment. The study provided some of the first definitive data on how health insurance impacts physical health and financial security.

Finkelstein's research from the Oregon experiment found that expanding Medicaid significantly reduced financial strain and clinical depression among low-income adults. However, it surprisingly showed only modest improvements in physical health metrics like blood pressure or cholesterol. Her broader work focuses on how natural experiments reveal the profound effects of health insurance market structures.

Amy Finkelstein is the Ford Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She is also a co-scientific director and founder of J-PAL North America, an economics research center at MIT. Her research has made her one of the most highly cited economists in the world.

Yes, Amy Finkelstein was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal in 2012 for her innovative use of natural experiments to study public economics and health care. The medal is awarded biennially to the most promising American economist under the age of forty. She has also been awarded the MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship for her contributions to the field.