Ridesharing and substance use disorder treatment

Conor Lennon, Johanna Catherine Maclean and Keith Teltser

Journal of Health Economics, 2025, vol. 99, issue C

Abstract: We examine whether ridesharing provides a meaningful transportation alternative for those who require ongoing healthcare. Specifically, we combine variation in UberX entry across the U.S. with the Treatment Episode Data Set to estimate the effect of ridesharing on admissions to substance use disorder treatment. People needing such treatment report transportation as a barrier to receiving care. We find that UberX entry into a Core Based Statistical Area has no effect on the overall number of treatment admissions. However, we find a decline in non-intensive outpatient treatment which is fully offset by an increase in intensive outpatient treatment. Given the required relative frequency of non-intensive and intensive outpatient treatment in terms of visits per week, our findings indicate that UberX helps to reduce transportation barriers to accessing healthcare. Event-studies show parallel trends in outcomes before UberX entry and results are robust to numerous sensitivity checks.

Keywords: Uber; Transportation barriers; Health care access; Substance use (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 L62 L92 R41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:99:y:2025:i:c:s0167629624000869

DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2024.102941

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