Do health vouchers broaden the choices of citizens with low socioeconomic status? An analysis of Medicaid in Brooklyn

Abstract

Governments worldwide have committed to extending choices in public management to deliver services effectively; yet, how these programmes ensure equality remain unclear. This study investigated whether such programmes widened choices among different groups of citizens, focusing on Medicaid in Brooklyn, New York, in the 2000s. Information on patient admissions from the Statewide Planning Research and Cooperative System and hospitals from the American Hospital Association was analysed using a difference-in-difference-in-differences approach. Findings indicate that Medicaid programme failed to broaden the spatially confined choices of hospitals to patients with low socioeconomic status compared to non-Medicaid or uninsured groups.