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01 Jun 2020Working Paper Summaries

Spreading the Health: Americans' Estimated and Ideal Distributions of Death and Health(care)

by Sorapop Kiatpongsan and Michael I. Norton

Across varying political ideologies and income levels, Americans both underestimate the current extent of inequality of mortality and healthcare, and prefer each to be more equally distributed.

Author Abstract

The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act intensified debates over the role of government in the distribution of healthcare. A nationally representative sample of Americans reported their estimated and ideal distributions of healthcare (unmet need for prescription medications) and death (gains in life expectancy). Respondents across the demographic and political spectrum wanted mortality and healthcare to be distributed more evenly among the rich and poor than they estimated them to be. For example, respondents estimated that Americans in the poorest quintile lived 1.5 months longer over the previous 20 years while those in the richest quintile lived 4.7 months longer but reported ideal figures of 2.5 and 3.6 months—both were far more equal than the actual figures: -1.8 and 7.2 months. Despite heated debates about healthcare, Americans share a consensus belief that current disparities in death and healthcare are far from their ideals.

Paper Information

Full Working Paper Text
Working Paper Publication Date: April 2020
HBS Working Paper Number: HBS Working Paper #20-114
Faculty Unit(s): Marketing

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Michael I. Norton

Michael I. Norton

Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration
Director of Research

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