One of the main goals of public health insurance expansions is to increase access to health care services, but doing so may require providers to move to previously underserved areas. Whether and to what extent any such relocation occurs remains an open question. I study how providers choose their practice locations in response to Medicaid expansions for one of the most common forms of primary care, dental care services. I find that expansions of adult Medicaid dental benefits increased the number of dentists per capita in poor counties relative to non-poor counties by 13 percent, or 2.8 dentists per 100,000 population. The increase was larger in counties where the expansions generated greater financial incentives for dentists.

公共医疗保险扩展的主要目标之一是增加获得医疗保健服务的机会，但这样做可能需要提供者转移到以前服务不足的地区。是否以及在多大程度上发生任何此类搬迁仍然是一个悬而未决的问题。我研究了提供者如何选择他们的执业地点以响应医疗补助扩展，这是最常见的初级保健形式之一，牙科保健服务。我发现，与非贫困县相比，成人医疗补助牙科福利的扩大使贫困县的人均牙医人数增加了 13%，即每 100,000 人口增加了 2.8 名牙医。在扩张为牙医带来更大经济激励的县，增幅更大。