The health benefits of a targeted cash transfer: The UK Winter Fuel Payment.

Thomas F Crossley,Federico Zilio

doi:10.1002/hec.3666

Thomas F Crossley, Federico Zilio

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Each year, the UK records 25,000 or more excess winter deaths, primarily among the elderly. A key policy response is the “Winter Fuel Payment” (WFP), a labelled but unconditional cash transfer to households with a member above the female state pension age. The WFP has been shown to raise fuel spending among eligible households. We examine the causal effect of the WFP on health outcomes, including self‐reports of chest infection, measured hypertension, and biomarkers of infection and inflammation. We find a robust, 6 percentage point reduction in the incidence of high levels of serum fibrinogen. Reductions in other disease markers point to health benefits, but the estimated effects are less robust.

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IntroductionThe U.K. experiences Excess Winter Mortality (EWM). The Office of National Statistics computes EWM by compares the number of deaths registered between December and March with the average number of deceases in the foregoing August-November and in the succeeding April-July
Each year, the U.K. experiences Excess Winter Mortality (EWM)
The analysis reported in this paper is based on data from the Health Surveys for England (HSE) (2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2009)9, the Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) (2003, 2008, 2009) and the English Longitudinal Study on Ageing (ELSA)

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Introduction

The U.K. experiences Excess Winter Mortality (EWM). The Office of National Statistics computes EWM by compares the number of deaths registered between December and March with the average number of deceases in the foregoing August-November and in the succeeding April-July. We add to the evidence base significantly by using a convincing quasi-experimental design in conjunction with individual level data; by considering a variety of measures of circulatory and respiratory illness, including biomarkers; and by testing for health benefits among the group that have been made ineligible by recent changes to the age cut off. Our principal finding is that, among those living in a household that just qualifies for the payment, the WFP leads to a six percentage point reduction in the incidence of high levels of serum fibrinogen (on a base of 12 %) This effect is statistical significant (p

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