Health Care Costs, Health Care Utilization
Conditions
Brief summary
During the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Chelsea, Massachusetts held a lottery to allocate monthly cash benefits to its residents. Using data from the Chelsea Eats program, the investigators propose to study the impact of the cash benefit on health care spending.
Interventions
OTHERCash Benefit
Spending from the cards was not restricted to food but could be spent on anything and anywhere Visa was accepted. The debit cards were credited with the first payment on November 18th, 2020 and the second payment on December 18th, 2020. The program continued with monthly credits through August 2021.
OTHERNo Cash Benefit
No monthly cash benefit.
Sponsors
Harvard Medical School (HMS and HSDM)
Brigham and Women's Hospital
University of Michigan
Harvard University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
TRIPLE (Caregiver, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Resident of Chelsea, Massachusetts * Household income at or below 30% of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Area Median Income
Exclusion criteria
* See inclusion criteria
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Health care spending for medical services | 9 months | Total payments to providers for medical services |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Health care spending in acute care setting | 9 months | Total payments to providers for medical services in the acute care setting |
| Health care spending in outpatient setting | 9 months | Total payments to providers for medical services in outpatient setting |
| Health care spending for prescription drugs | 9 months | Total payments for prescription services |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed