More money could result in fewer trips to ER, study suggests

[Judi Lynn]

JULY 22, 2024

Editors' notes

by Devna Bose

Giving cash to poor people could result in fewer emergency department visits, a new study suggests.

The study published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association looked at almost 2,900 low-income people who applied for a lottery in the Boston suburb of Chelsea, Massachusetts. Nearly 1,750 of them got up to $400 per month from November 2020 to August 2021.

The researchers then looked at health records and found that those who received the money had 27% fewer visits an emergency room in the nine-month period compared with those who didn't receive the monthly payments.

"We can trust the poor with money," said co-author Dr. Sumit Agarwal, a physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. "There's this narrative out there that you give people cash and they spend it on drugs and alcohol. I think we're one of the first studies to really rigorously and empirically show that's not the case."

More:
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-07-money-result-er.html

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. Guaranteed Basic Income works wherever it is tried. Hence Con Premier Ford in Ontario killed it ASAP

There was an experiment running in a town and it was about halfway through a 2 or 3 year project when Ford killed it.

Can't have facts supporting progressive programs. Nothing "Progressive" about 21st century Conservatives in Canada and elsewhere (used to be called the Progressive Conservative Party).