WEALTHY AND HEALTHY: THE EFFECT OF INCOME INEQUALITY ON HEALTH STATUS IN THE UNITED STATES

Abstract

This paper focuses on whether income inequality has a significant impact on self­‐reported health status in the United States. It is well known that a person’s individual income affects their health status, as it affects how much health care they can afford and whether they can buy health insurance. However, whether income inequality has an effect is the topic of much debate. This thesis examines that relationship more closely. First, I create a measure of income inequality for each region in the United States, including the Northeast, Midwest, South, and West, and I find that there is enough evidence of an effect on health status to explore the topic further. Using regression analysis, I find that the most important variables to consider are income inequality, coverage status, and access to health care. This is because after finding that coverage status and access to health care are important determinants of health status, I conclude that income inequality also has an effect on these two variables, thus indirectly and immeasurably affecting health status as well. Finally, I conclude in this paper that while different regional health care policies may explain some of the regional differences in reported health status, income inequality is still an important factor and would most likely still lead to different reported health statuses even if all other regional factors were the same.