Informal access to medical expertise and services (like being parents of a doctor) is not an important cause of differences in health care use and mortality

Artmann, Elisabeth, Hessel Oosterbeek and Bas van der Klaauw. 2022. "Do Doctors Improve the Health Care of Their Parents? Evidence from Admission Lotteries." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 14(3):164-84. DOI: 10.1257/app.20190629

Abstract: To assess the importance of unequal access to medical expertise and services, we estimate the causal effects of having a child who is a doctor on parents' mortality and health care use. We use data from parents of almost 22,000 participants in admission lotteries to medical school in the Netherlands. Our findings indicate that informal access to medical expertise and services is not an important cause of differences in health care use and mortality.