Replication Code for: The Impact of Financial Assistance Programs on Health Care Utilization: Evidence from Kaiser Permanente

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Alyce Adams, Stanford University and Kaiser Permanente; Raymond Kluender, Harvard University; Neale Mahoney, Stanford University and NBER; Jinglin Wang, New York University; Francis Wong, NBER; Wesley Yin, University of California, Los Angeles and NBER

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Name File Type Size Last Modified
  160743-V1 01/26/2022 03:45:PM
README.pdf application/pdf 198.2 KB 02/19/2022 10:14:AM

Project Citation: 

Adams, Alyce, Kluender, Raymond, Mahoney, Neale, Wang, Jinglin, Wong, Francis, and Yin, Wesley. Replication Code for: The Impact of Financial Assistance Programs on Health Care Utilization: Evidence from Kaiser Permanente. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2022. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2022-08-26. https://doi.org/10.3886/E160743V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary
Most hospitals have financial assistance programs for low-income patients. We use administrative data from Kaiser Permanente to study the effects of financial assistance on healthcare utilization. Using a regression discontinuity design based on an income threshold for program eligibility, we find that financial assistance increases the likelihood of an inpatient, ambulatory and emergency department encounter by 3.6 pp (59%), 13.4 pp (20%), and 6.7 pp (53%), respectively, though effects dissipate three quarters after program receipt. Financial assistance also increases the detection and management of treatment-sensitive conditions (e.g., drugs treating diabetes), suggesting financial assistance may increase receipt of high-value care. 

Scope of Project

JEL Classification:  View help for JEL Classification
      I14 Health and Inequality
      I18 Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) program source code


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