Special healthcare taxing districts: association with population health status

Locally generated special healthcare taxes are an important component of community infrastructure, but their impact on the health status of populations has not been systematically addressed.

Florida counties were segmented on the basis of the use/nonuse of locally generated tax dollars for health care during the 1992-1996 period and analyzed in 2004. Linear mixed-effects regression analysis was used to test a model in which taxing behavior served as the primary predictor variable for total age-adjusted and selected cause-specific mortality. Race/ethnicity, rurality, poverty, access to a public hospital, and physician availability were controlled.

Local taxation was associated with lower total age-adjusted mortality, and lower mortality for the major causes of death, except stroke, when compared to the state mean. Local taxation is protective relative to total age-adjusted mortality (odds ratio [OR]=0.63, 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.40-0.98) and age-adjusted mortality from chronic obstructive lung disease (OR=0.50, CI=0.32-0.79), cancers (OR=0.53, CI=0.34-0.084), and intentional injury (OR=0.50, CI=0.38-0.92).

Locally generated tax revenues used for the provision of healthcare services are consistently associated with improved health outcomes of major public health importance. The means by which this advantage is achieved will require additional research.