Improving family benefits for better population health

The important new study by Hanna et al. reports on changes in prenatal care associated with the Rx Kids cash transfer program. The program provides a cash transfer ($1500 during pregnancy and $500 monthly for the first year of life) for expectant mothers and their children in the Flint, Michigan area, without means-testing. Using a strong difference-in-differences method, the authors found that the program, which covered nearly all births in the area, was associated with large improvements in receipt of adequate prenatal care, decreases in pregnancies in which no prenatal care was received, and increases in both the mean number of prenatal visits and the proportion of pregnancies in which prenatal care was initiated in the first trimester. These are all important findings that are likely to have long-term health benefits for the mothers and children involved.