The great loss of jobs and financial investments resulting from the current economic recession has adversely affected access to employer-sponsored health insurance, provider behavior and workforce trends, and population health. At the same time, a major challenge for researchers and policymakers is to distinguish between these cyclical trends and long-term structural changes to the economy. The HCFO brief, "Impact of the Economy on Health Care," by Jill Bernstein, Ph.D., examines the interconnections among economic forces, health care access, costs, and outcomes and identifies gaps in our understanding of how the economy impacts health care.
