In the US healthcare system, patients of different socio-economic status (SES) often receive disparate treatment for similar conditions. Prior work documents this phenomenon for particular treatments/conditions, but we take a system-wide view and examine socioeconomic disparities in spending for...

We examine how health insurance expansions affect the entry and location decisions of health care clinics. Exploiting county-level changes in insurance coverage following the Affordable Care Act and 1,721 retail clinic entries and exits, we find that local increases in insurance coverage do not...

Rollouts of COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. were opportunities to redress disparities that surfaced during the pandemic. Initial eligibility criteria, however, neglected geographic, racial/ethnic, and socioeconomic considerations. Marginalized populations may have faced barriers to then-scarce...

We estimate the associations between community socioeconomic composition and changes in COVID-19 vaccination levels in eight large cities at three time points. Between March and April, low SES communities had significantly lower change in percent vaccinated than high SES communities. Between...

This paper examines the impact of universal, free, and easily accessible primary healthcare on population health as measured by age-specific birth and mortality rates, focusing on a nationwide socialized medicine program implemented in Turkey. The Family Medicine Program (FMP), launched in 2005,...

Throughout the Truman administration's Fair Deal era, ideas for a national system of publicly financed universal health care were developed, debated, and even proposed in Congress. In spite of public support for health care reform, each legislative proposal that embodied these ideas failed, and...

The theory of the second best implies that policymakers should address all relevant issues in a comprehensive manner to improve social welfare. Since most components in the economy are interconnected, a policy focusing narrowly on particular aspects of a broad issue often produces serious side...

Despite improvements over the past few decades, Slovak health outcomes remains poor compared with most other OECD countries, even after controlling for differences in per capita income and other social, cultural and lifestyle factors. Disparities in access to care and health outcomes between the...