Health and human services for pregnant women and young children

Question A: Providing targeted health and human service programs to pregnant women will lead to reductions in future social spending that will exceed the program costs.

Question B: Providing targeted health and human service programs to pregnant women will increase maternal labor force participation.

Question C: Providing targeted health and human service programs to pregnant women will significantly reduce infant mortality.

Question A: Providing targeted health and human service programs to pregnant women will lead to reductions in future social spending that will exceed the program costs.

Economist	Institution	Opinion	Confidence	Comment
Jonathan Andreas	Bluffton University	Uncertain	3	The problem with preventative healthcare spending is that it prolongs life which can actually increase future healthcare spending. This is a GOOD thing because the whole point of healthcare spending is to make life longer and healthier. The best way to reduce future social spending would be to just give everyone a lethal dose of cyanide pills. What we want is the most cost-effective way of increasing health and helping pregnant women is generally cost effective in the US because we have lousy prenatal care relative to most rich nations.
David Brasington	University of Cincinnati	Agree	4	there are issues of compliance, and how participants are identified (ALL pregnant women are visited; only those receiving Medicaid...)
Ron Cheung	Oberlin College	Strongly Agree	10
Kevin Egan	University of Toledo	Agree	7	Children are future workers, and the first 5 years are crucial for brain development.
Kenneth Fah	Ohio Dominican University	Uncertain	8
Will Georgic	Ohio Wesleyan University	Agree	7
Bob Gitter	Ohio Wesleyan University	Strongly Agree	9	Expenditures such as these that result in helping women have healthy children will reduce expenditures down the road. The $35 million over two years is a start but it should be more!
Nancy Haskell	University of Dayton	Agree	8
Paul Holmes	Ashland University	Agree	8
Faria Huq	Lake Erie College	Strongly Agree	9
Michael Jones	University of Cincinnati	Disagree	3	Answering this question requires evaluating each program on its own merits. For example, the very first program described in legislation was the creation of a mobile app to describe resources, services, surveys, etc. for pregnant women. The development of this app is allocated $500,000. As someone who has also worked extensively with 3rd party app developers, this pricing seems very out-of-line with the current market. If the costs are that high, I have a hard time imagining that the benefits would be similarly high.
Charles Kroncke	Mount Saint Joseph University	Uncertain	6
Trevon Logan	Ohio State University	Agree	8
Michael Myler	University of Mount Union	Agree	8
Joe Nowakowski	Muskingum University	Agree	9
Curtis Reynolds	Kent State University	Agree	5
Kay Strong	Independent	Strongly Agree	10	Healthy mothers are a precursor for healthy offspring.
Iryna Topolyan	University of Cincinnati	Strongly Agree	9
Ejindu Ume	Miami University	Agree	8

Question B: Providing targeted health and human service programs to pregnant women will increase maternal labor force participation.

Economist	Institution	Opinion	Confidence	Comment
Jonathan Andreas	Bluffton University	Agree	6	Healthier moms with healthier babies are generally better able to work (unless the babies die which also helps moms work, so if this significantly reduces infant mortality, that could be bad for labor force participation -- see my point above).
David Brasington	University of Cincinnati	Disagree	8	I don't see much of a connection
Ron Cheung	Oberlin College	Strongly Agree	10
Kevin Egan	University of Toledo	Uncertain	5	I don't know and I want each family to feel supported and make their own choice about work vs. childcare.
Kenneth Fah	Ohio Dominican University	Agree	8
Will Georgic	Ohio Wesleyan University	Uncertain	5	The direction of this relationship entirely depends on the structure and incentives of the health and human service programs. It's possible to imagine these programs either increasing or decreasing labor force participation of pregnant women. It is still possible, though, for these programs to be efficient even if they result in a temporary reduction in labor force participation for expecting mothers.
Bob Gitter	Ohio Wesleyan University	Agree	6	I am not sure the impact will be large. Sadly, if infant mortality stays high, more women might actually work.
Nancy Haskell	University of Dayton	Agree	5
Paul Holmes	Ashland University	Uncertain	7
Faria Huq	Lake Erie College	Agree	8
Michael Jones	University of Cincinnati	Disagree	7	Some of these programs emphasize the importance of mother-child bonding and mothers spending time with their children (e.g. the Centering Pregnancy program). If mothers are taught that children who breastfeed and spend significant amounts of time with loved ones have better economic and health outcomes, then mothers would be more likely to stay home and spend more time with their children - rather than more time in the office. As a result, the maternal labor force would be lower.
Charles Kroncke	Mount Saint Joseph University	Uncertain	5
Trevon Logan	Ohio State University	Uncertain	9
Michael Myler	University of Mount Union	Agree	7
Joe Nowakowski	Muskingum University	Agree	9
Curtis Reynolds	Kent State University	Uncertain	5
Kay Strong	Independent	Agree	10	This outcome will likely have a 5 to 6 year lag as offspring grow from infantcy to school [age].
Iryna Topolyan	University of Cincinnati	Strongly Agree	9
Ejindu Ume	Miami University	Strongly Agree	9

Question C: Providing targeted health and human service programs to pregnant women will significantly reduce infant mortality.

Economist	Institution	Opinion	Confidence	Comment
Jonathan Andreas	Bluffton University	Agree	7	Again, the US does poorly on infant mortality and it is partly due to poor prenatal care for women who are uninsured or who have health insurance that discourages care through high-deductibles or by randomly denying coverage for routine care (like has happened to my family on a number of occasions!).
David Brasington	University of Cincinnati	Uncertain	7	there will be some reduction, but unclear whether it's significant
Ron Cheung	Oberlin College	Strongly Agree	10
Kevin Egan	University of Toledo	Agree	5	I don't know. I sure hope as a state we were already reducing infant mortality.
Kenneth Fah	Ohio Dominican University	Agree	8
Will Georgic	Ohio Wesleyan University	Strongly Agree	10	Health and human service programs targeted to pregnant women throughout the state will likely save at least one infant life, and any reduction in infant mortality is "significant" in my opinion.
Bob Gitter	Ohio Wesleyan University	Strongly Agree	9	Ohio has a very high infant mortality rate, especially for minority women. This will help but I wish it was even larger.
Nancy Haskell	University of Dayton	Strongly Agree	9
Paul Holmes	Ashland University	Agree	7
Faria Huq	Lake Erie College	Strongly Agree	9
Michael Jones	University of Cincinnati	Uncertain	5	Some of these programs do appear to improve the percentage of preterm births and number of low birthweight children. I'm not sure if they significantly reduce infant mortality though.
Charles Kroncke	Mount Saint Joseph University	Agree	8
Trevon Logan	Ohio State University	Agree	6
Michael Myler	University of Mount Union	Agree	8
Joe Nowakowski	Muskingum University	Strongly Agree	9
Curtis Reynolds	Kent State University	Agree	5
Kay Strong	Independent	Strongly Agree	10	Again healthy mothers are a prerequisite for healthy children.
Iryna Topolyan	University of Cincinnati	Strongly Agree	9
Ejindu Ume	Miami University	Strongly Agree	9