BI improves health.

Title: What we know about Universal Basic Income: A cross-synthesis of reviews.

HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

There is consistent evidence across contexts for improvements to health status and to the myriad behavioral and social factors that are linked to leading causes of premature ill-health, disability, and death. A small number of studies report on disease outcomes, with some evidence for clinically meaningful reductions in the likelihood of having any disease with sustained effects two years into the interventions17 and reductions in sexually transmitted infections.19 Positive impacts were generally observed for mental health,5,19 but some negative impacts were also observed due to social stigma and fear of benefits for persons with disabilities receiving targeted supports.12

Given the long timeframe to directly observe health impacts, many studies report on clinical and behavioral risk factors for future poor health. There are mixed results for clinical measures in children, with limited impact on anthropometric measures,11,17 and some positive effects on birthweight,5,20 preterm birth,20 and Apgar scores.20 When program characteristics are taken into account, the most significant effects on birth weight in advanced economies are observed among low-income and white populations in targeted and unconditional programs, while programs that are accompanied by work conditions yielded no or mixed effects, or even negative effects when work reforms were introduced to existing social welfare programs.20

Several reviews examine reproductive status and health, with positive impacts observed for use of contraceptives,11,18 early marriage,11 and unplanned pregnancy11,18 in low- and middle-income contexts, and a decrease in fertility in high-income countries.5 Impacts increase with the duration of the benefit,11 but in the case of contraceptive use, decrease over time.18 The evidence is inconsistent for whether these effects are greater in girls and women or boys and men.13,19

Evidence was mixed for healthcare access, with some evidence for positive impacts on health seeking behaviors and the uptake of health services11,19 and for household spending on healthcare.17 However, one review found that improvements were more likely for programs where enrollment in national health care or health service utilization were included as program incentives.19 Mixed results were observed for access to antenatal care and skilled delivery attendants.19

Some studies investigate impacts on social determinants of health. While the evidence for social determinants of health, such as education, income and employment, are more robust, less evidence is available for other social determinants, such as housing conditions and quality, civic participation, community resilience, and women’s empowerment.19 The health impact on food security is generally well-reported, with positive effects on food security,17 food expenditure,11 and dietary diversity.17 The gender of the recipient impacts nutritional effects, with greater impacts observed for girls over boys.13