Healthcare

Expanding access to health care is once again high on the US political agenda, as is concern about those who are being “left behind.” But is universal health care that is largely free at the point of use sufficient to eliminate inequalities in health care use? To explore this question, we studied variation in the use of hospital care among education-level-defined groups of older adults in England, before and after controlling for differences in health status. In England, the National Health Service (NHS) provides health care free to all, but the growth rate for NHS funding has slowed markedly since 2010 during a widespread austerity program, potentially increasing inequalities in access and use.

Journal article published in the Journal of Health Economics in September 2020. Full (open-access) article available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016762962030014X?via%3Dihub

This paper examines the pre-existing and new inequalities between ethnic groups in England and Wales exposed by the economic and public health crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic. We draw on current mortality and case data, alongside pre-crisis labour force data, to investigate the relative vulnerability of different ethnic groups to adverse health and economic impacts.

This paper discusses likely implications for healthcare delivery in the short and medium term of the responses to the coronavirus pandemic, focusing primarily on the implications for non‐coronavirus patients.

This paper uses linked survey responses and administrative hospital records to examine the accuracy of self-reported medical diagnoses.

Many governments are considering expanding childcare subsidies to increase the labour force participation of parents (especially mothers) with young children.

There is substantial geographic heterogeneity in healthcare spending in Hungary. Labor income is positively associated with public healthcare spending. Positive relation between income and healthcare spending also exists within counties. Labor income is negatively associated with mortality.

We examine how the effects of incentivizing individuals to use healthcare depend on the capacity of the health system.

This paper examines the impacts of private hospital entry on publicly funded elective care in England.

We conducted an 18-year follow-up of 618 out of 742 low-income, primarily AfricanAmerican mothers with no previous live births enrolled in an randomized clinical trial of prenatal and infancy home visiting by nurses. We compared nurse-visited and control-group women for public-benefit costs, rates of substance abuse and depression, and examined possible mediators of intervention effects.

Much of lifetime healthcare spending is concentrated at the end of life. This paper uses survey data linked to administrative hospital and mortality records to examine how the pattern of end-of-life hospital inpatient spending varies across different groups within a large public hospital system in England.