Panel Regression Analysis on Building Healthier Communities in California: A Regional Focus

The effectiveness of health policies requires substantiation by data that empirically shows positive health outcomes. This paper builds a framework and model that analyzes current policies across counties in California using panel regression analysis. The model seeks to address health problems specific to the County of San Bernardino region which suffers from high rates of chronic disease, poor air quality, and limited health care access. This model will control for economic variables such as income and unemployment to focus on which policy variables can be changed to improve regional health outcomes and the overall level of well being. Policy advice is then offered that seeks to address issues and promote positive changes in building healthier communities based. For example, preliminary regressions show a significant relationship between smoking and local healthcare spending. The model will reflect several policy variables and their effects on life expectancy to pin down which policies will have the largest impacts on increasing life expectancy and levels of well being.