For the Russell Sage Foundation, NORC is examining some of the most significant health-related U.S. government policies of the past 25 years to determine whether these policies have acted to increase the redistribution of income or to magnify inequalities.  Using a comprehensive review of policy and relevant literature and quantitative analysis, the project will investigate:

• The government policy initatives of the past 25 years with potential to affect economic and racial/ethnic disparities in health and health care;
• How the economic benefits of government health-related expenditures are distributed among individuals by income, race/ethnicity, and family structure/composition, and how this distribution has changed over time;
• How the current system of employer-sponsored health insurance contributes to inequality; and
• How different approaches to health care reform and the expansion of health insurance coverage are likely to affect social inequality.

Quantitative analyses will draw primarily on data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) and its predecessor survey, the National Medical Care Expenditure Survey (NMCES).  The synthesis of findings from the policy and quantitative analyses will provide a deeper understanding of the role of the political system in fostering or mitigating social inequality.