Health officials attest that immunizations are among the most successful interventions in public health. However, there remains a substantial unvaccinated population in the United States. We analyzed how state-level vaccination exemption laws affect immunization rates and the incidence of preventable disease. We measured the association between each component of state kindergarten vaccination exemption laws and state vaccination exemption rates from 2002 to 2012, using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's annual school assessment reports. We found that policies such as requiring health department approval of nonmedical exemptions, requiring a physician to sign an exemption application, and having criminal or civil punishments for noncompliance with immunization requirements had a significant effect in reducing vaccine exemptions. Our exemption law effectiveness index identified eighteen states with the most effective laws and nine states with the least effective ones. The most effective states had lower incidences of pertussis, compared to other states. For policy makers interested in decreasing the number of vaccine exemptions in their state, our findings are of particular interest.
ABSTRACT. This paper extends the literature on amenity migration by focusing on healthcare access for later-life migrants. Previous studies have strongly suggested that natural amenities are strong pull factors for later-life migrants, but high natural amenity counties rarely possess the quality healthcare access optimal for elderly migrants. Utilizing a spatial Bayesian estimation strategy, we explicitly consider numerous drivers of later-life migration to examine the extent to which health access is a driver in location decisions. We find healthcare access measures, including hospital expenditures, hospital beds, and number of doctors, are positively associated with later-life migration decisions.
This study examines the impact of hospitals on local labor markets in rural and urban counties. We measure the ability of hospitals, particularly in rural communities, to attract nonhealth-related employment and provide higher wage jobs to residents based on their education level. Results find hospital employees with an associate’s degree can expect a 21.4% wage premium, when compared with alternative opportunities, and those with a bachelor’s degree can earn 12.2% more working in a hospital. Hospitals are shown to be positively related to overall employment as well as exhibit positive employment spillover. For rural counties, a short-term general hospital is associated with 559 jobs in the county, 60 of which are hospital based and 499 are non–health care related. With the positive benefits on wages and non–health care job growth, hospitals have measurable positive labor market outcomes above their primary objective of providing health care access, particularly in rural counties.
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