HIV/AIDS has been one of the largest public health crises in recent history, and the US federal government has spent hundreds of billions of dollars fighting the disease. This study examines the impact of the large amounts of federal funding allocated to US cities to combat HIV/AIDS through the Ryan White CARE Act’s first title. The findings indicate that the cost to avoid an HIV/AIDS death through the program is roughly $334,000, that the program has saved approximately 57,000 lives through 2018, and that funding disparities are responsible for the uneven progress in combating HIV/AIDS across the United States.

Little is known about what drives gender disparities in health care and related social insurance benefits. Using data and variation from the Texas workers’ compensation program, we study the impact of gender match between doctors and patients on medical evaluations and associated disability benefits. Compared to differences among their male patient counterparts, female patients randomly assigned a female doctor rather than a male doctor are 5.2 percent more likely to be evaluated as disabled and receive 8.6 percent more subsequent cash benefits on average. There is no analogous gender-match effect for male patients. Our estimates indicate that increasing the share of female patients evaluated by female doctors may substantially shrink gender gaps in medical evaluations and associated outcomes.