Although social and economic policies are not considered part of health services infrastructure, such policies may influence health and disease by altering social determinants of health (SDH). We review social and economic policies in the US that have measured health outcomes among adults in four domains of SDH including housing and neighborhood, employment, family strengthening/marriage, and income supplementation. The majority of these policies target low-income populations. These social policies rarely consider health as their initial mission or outcomes. When measuring health, the programs document mental health and physical health benefits more than half the time, although some effects fade with time. We also find considerable segregation of program eligibility by gender and family composition. Policy makers should design future social policies to evaluate health outcomes using validated health measures; to target women more broadly across the socioeconomic spectrum; and to consider family caregiving responsibilities as ignoring them can have unintended health effects.

the different racial and ethnic groups is examined, along with the economic dependency ratio. U.S. population The 2010 census measured the U.S. resident population at 308.7 million, an increase of 27.3 million people over a decade. In addition to counting the population every 10 years, the Census Bureau calculates annual population estimates and periodically produces long-term projections of the U.S. resident population by age, gender, race, and ethnicity. 3 These projections illustrate the demographic forces that are expected to shape the future of the U.S. resident population. Specifically, the U.S. population is expected to get larger, to continue growing at a slower rate, to grow older, and to become more diverse. Larger population. The Census Bureau projects that the U.S. resident population will grow from 308.7 million in 2010 to 341.4 million in 2020, an increase of 32.7 million people in 10 years. Slower growth. Even though the resident population will grow by large numbers, the annual rate of growth is projected to slow from 0.98 percent during 2009-2010 to 0.94 percent over the 2019-2020 period. The slower rate of growth is primarily the result of the aging of the U.S. population. Older population. A significant factor shaping the future demographics of the U.S. population is the increase in older population cohorts. In 2020, the 55-years-andolder age group will total 97.8 million, composing 28.7 percent of the 2020 resident population, compared with 24.7 percent in 2010.

The US child population is rapidly becoming more racially and ethnically diverse, yet there are persistent racial/ethnic gaps in child health. Improving and expanding policies to reduce these gaps is increasingly a mandate of government agencies. Identifying effective policies requires a rigorous approach, yet there is a lack of information about which policies improve equity. This article introduces the Policy Equity Assessment, a framework that combines policy assessment and rigorous equity methods to both synthesize existing research and identify and conduct new analyses of policies' ability to reduce racial/ethnic inequities. We applied the Policy Equity Assessment to three policies: Head Start, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and a federal housing assistance program known as Section 8. Our results show racial/ethnic inequities in access to benefits and substantial data and evidence gaps regarding the impact of policies in improving racial/ethnic equity. These results should motivate policy makers to strengthen equity analysis.

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