The Health Effects Of Expanding The Earned Income Tax Credit: Results From New York City

Courtin, Émilie; Aloisi, Kali; Miller, Cynthia; Allen, Heidi; Katz, Lawrence F.

doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2019.01556

Cited by 19 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…However, the intervention produced larger improvements in earnings and employment for women and in earnings for noncustodial parents, and it was subsequently associated with significant reductions in psychological distress among these groups. These results are in line with previous work showing improvements in health-related quality of life among women eligible for Paycheck Plus ( 14 ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…A tripling of the EITC for low-income adults without dependent children was included in the American Rescue Plan ( 41 ). Together with previous findings on health-related quality of life ( 14 ), our results suggest that it is possible to “move the dial” on physical and mental health with a generous expansion of the EITC. The finding that expanding the EITC to workers without dependent children is likely to benefit their health should be taken into account by policy-makers and included in analyses of the cost-effectiveness of this policy.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

“…The primary outcomes of the trial were employment and earnings ( 9 , 13 ). Subsequent to receiving funding from the National Institute on Aging, health-related quality of life ( 14 ) and psychological distress were added as primary outcomes for this separate health study.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effect of Expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit to Americans Without Dependent Children on Psychological Distress

Courtin

Allen

Katz

et al. 2021

American Journal of Epidemiology

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Anti-poverty policies have the potential to improve mental health. We conducted a randomized trial to investigate whether a fourfold increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income Americans without dependent children would reduce psychological distress relative to the current federal credit (Paycheck Plus, New York City site). Between 2013 and 2014, 5,968 participants were recruited; 2,997 were randomly assigned to the treatment group and 2,971 were assigned to the control group. Survey data were collected 32 months post-randomization (N=4,749). Eligibility for the program increased employment by 1.9 percentage points and after-bonus earnings by 6% ($635 per year) on average over the three years. Treatment was associated with a marginally statistically-significant decline in psychological distress relative to the control group (-0.30 points; 95% CI, -0.63 to 0.03; p=0.076). Women in the treated group experienced a half-a-point reduction in psychological distress (-0.55; 95% CI, -0.97 to -0.13; p=0.032) and noncustodial parents reported a 1.36 point reduction (95% CI, -2.24 to -0.49; p = 0.011) in psychological distress. An expansion of a large anti-poverty program to individuals without dependent children reduced psychological distress for women and noncustodial parents – the groups who benefitted the most in terms of increased after-bonus earnings.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

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Effect of Expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit to Americans Without Dependent Children on Psychological Distress

Courtin

Allen

Katz

et al. 2021

American Journal of Epidemiology

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“…Nevertheless, a recent RCT showed that just 3 years of exposure to supplemental income from EITC can produce measurable impacts on health-related quality of life, at least among women. 26 Our findings are important from a policy perspective. There is now reasonable evidence that America's declining health and life expectancy are related to the declining fortunes of lower-class and middle-class families.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can antipoverty programmes save lives? Quasi-experimental evidence from the Earned Income Tax Credit in the USA

Vail

Hakes

2020

BMJ Open

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ObjectiveTo estimate the impact of state-level supplements of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) on mortality in the USA. The EITC supplements the wages of lower-income workers by providing larger returns when taxes are filed.SettingNationwide sample spanning 25 cohorts of people across every state in the USA.Participants793 000 respondents within the National Longitudinal Mortality Survey (NLMS) between 1986 and 2011, a representative sample of the USA.InterventionState-level supplementation to the EITC programme. Some, but not all, states added EITC supplementation to varying degrees beginning in 1986 (Wisconsin) and most recently in 2015 (California). Participants who were eligible in states with supplementary programmes were compared with those who were not eligible for supplementation. Comparisons were made both before and after implementation of the supplementary programme (a difference-in-difference, intent-to-treat analysis). This quasi-experimental approach further controls for age, gender, marital status, race or ethnicity, educational attainment, income and employment status.Primary and secondary outcome measuresThe primary outcome measure was survival at 10 years. Secondary outcome measures included survival at 5 years and survival to the end of the intervention period.ResultsWe find an association between state supplemental EITC and survival, with a HR of 0.973 (95% CI=0.951–0.996) for each US$100 of EITC increase (p<0.05).ConclusionState-level supplemental EITC may be an effective means of increasing survival in the USA.

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Effect of Cash Benefits on Health Care Utilization and Health

Agarwal,

Cook,

Liebman

2024

JAMA

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ImportancePoverty is associated with greater barriers to health care and worse health outcomes, but it remains unclear whether income support can improve health.ObjectiveTo examine the effect of cash benefits on health care utilization and health.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThe City of Chelsea, Massachusetts, a low-income community near Boston, randomly assigned individuals by lottery to receive cash benefits. Participants’ medical records were linked across multiple health systems. Outcomes were assessed during the intervention period from November 24, 2020, to August 31, 2021.InterventionCash benefits via debit card of up to $400 per month for 9 months.Main Outcomes and MeasuresThe primary outcome was emergency department visits. Secondary outcomes included specific types of emergency department visits, outpatient use overall and by specialty, COVID-19 vaccination, and biomarkers such as cholesterol levels.ResultsAmong 2880 individuals who applied for the lottery, mean age was 45.1 years and 77% were female. The 1746 participants randomized to receive the cash benefits had significantly fewer emergency department visits compared with the control group (217.1 vs 317.5 emergency department visits per 1000 persons; adjusted difference, −87.0 per 1000 persons [95% CI, −160.2 to −13.8]). This included reductions in emergency department visits related to behavioral health (−21.6 visits per 1000 persons [95% CI, −40.2 to −3.1]) and substance use (−12.8 visits per 1000 persons [95% CI, −25.0 to −0.6]) as well as those that resulted in a hospitalization (−27.3 visits per 1000 persons [95% CI, −53.6 to −1.1]). The cash benefit had no statistically significant effect on total outpatient visits (424.3 visits per 1000 persons [95% CI, −118.6 to 967.2]), visits to primary care (−90.4 visits per 1000 persons [95% CI, −308.1 to 127.2]), or outpatient behavioral health (83.5 visits per 1000 persons [95% CI, −182.9 to 349.9]). Outpatient visits to other subspecialties were higher in the cash benefit group compared with the control group (303.1 visits per 1000 persons [95% CI, 32.9 to 573.2]), particularly for individuals without a car. The cash benefit had no statistically significant effect on COVID-19 vaccination, blood pressure, body weight, glycated hemoglobin, or cholesterol level.Conclusions and RelevanceIn this randomized study, individuals who received a cash benefit had significantly fewer emergency department visits, including those related to behavioral health and substance use, fewer admissions to the hospital from the emergency department, and increased use of outpatient subspecialty care. Study results suggest that policies that seek to alleviate poverty by providing income support may have important benefits for health and access to care.

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The Health Effects Of Expanding The Earned Income Tax Credit: Results From New York City

Cited by 19 publications

References 45 publications

Effect of Expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit to Americans Without Dependent Children on Psychological Distress

Effect of Expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit to Americans Without Dependent Children on Psychological Distress

Can antipoverty programmes save lives? Quasi-experimental evidence from the Earned Income Tax Credit in the USA

Effect of Cash Benefits on Health Care Utilization and Health

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