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December 8, 1983New England Journal of Medicine

Does Free Care Improve Adults' Health?

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Authors

RBRobert H. BrookPasadena City CollegeJWJohn E. WareUniversity of Southern CaliforniaWRWilliam H. RogersXavier University

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Implication

Randomized trial examines health effects of free care versus cost-sharing insurance in adults, indicating mixed results.

Key Points

  • This research aims to investigate whether free medical care improves health outcomes compared to cost-sharing insurance plans.
  • Studied 3958 participants aged 14 to 61 assigned to different insurance plans for three to five years.
  • One plan provided free care, while others required partial payment.
  • Evaluated health outcomes including physician visits, hospitalization rates, and specific health measures like vision and blood pressure.
  • Participants with free care had one-third fewer physician visits and hospitalizations.
  • Free care improved vision by 0.2 Snellen lines and lowered diastolic blood pressure by 3 mm Hg in certain subgroups.
  • No significant effects on eight other health measures were found for the average participant, though some subgroup results suggested potential benefits.

Cite This Study

Brook et al. (1983) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a0981d64b13cba7925141ffhttps://doi.org/10.1056/nejm198312083092305
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Also Consider

Synapse has enriched 2 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context:

  1. 1Further Suggestions concerning the Utilization of Incomplete Observations in Regression Analysis1971 · 17 citations
  2. 2The American Medical Economy: Problems and Perspectives1976 · 16 citations