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The War on Poverty's Experiment in Public Medicine: Community Health Centers and the Mortality of Older Americans

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  • Martha J. Bailey
  • Andrew Goodman-Bacon

Abstract

This paper uses the rollout of the first Community Health Centers (CHCs) to study the longer-term health effects of increasing access to primary care. Within ten years, CHCs are associated with a reduction in age-adjusted mortality rates of 2 percent among those 50 and older. The implied 7 to 13 percent decrease in one-year mortality risk among beneficiaries amounts to 20 to 40 percent of the 1966 poor/non-poor mortality gap for this age group. Large effects for those 65 and older suggest that increased access to primary care has longer-term benefits, even for populations with near universal health insurance.

Suggested Citation

  • Martha J. Bailey & Andrew Goodman-Bacon, 2014. "The War on Poverty's Experiment in Public Medicine: Community Health Centers and the Mortality of Older Americans," NBER Working Papers 20653, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20653
    Note: AG DAE DEV EH PE
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy

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