Health Effects of Non-Health Policy

With medical expenditures now totaling 15 percent of the national economy, the United States spends more on health care than any other nation, yet it lags behind other industrialized nations on many standard health indicators, such as life expectancy and infant mortality. James S. House, Robert F. Schoeni, George Kaplan, and Harold Pollack believe that this discrepancy between health spending and health outcomes may be partially explained by the health effects of non-health spending and policy. It is possible, for example, that countries with more extensive social safety nets may have healthier populations in spite of their lower direct outlays on health care. With support from the Foundation, House and his colleagues will convene a conference in Washington D.C. in February 2006 to explore the relationships between six non-health policy areas and health. The policy areas are housing and neighborhood/community policies, education policy, civil rights and anti-discrimination policies, welfare programs and reforms, employment and macroeconomic policies, and income support programs. The Foundation will publish the papers presented at the conference in an edited volume. The papers will explore topics such as whether participation in the early education program Head Start resulted in health benefits later in life, the effects of civil rights legislation on the health of African-American women in the 1960s and 1970s, and the health effects of macroeconomic conditions.