Taxing Language: Do Interpreting Fees Affect Immigrant Healthcare Usage? Evidence From a Regression Discontinuity Design

Abstract

Research has shown that administrative burdens significantly influence benefit uptake across various welfare programs in the U.S. and beyond. However, much of the existing research has focused primarily on program take-up, leaving a gap in our understanding of how burdens affect the ongoing use of welfare benefits. To address this gap, we utilize a regression discontinuity design to analyze how the introduction of substantial fees on interpreting services affects usage of healthcare services among Danish immigrants. Our data comes from highly reliable, detailed registries that track the weekly use of general practitioners by Danish immigrants. We find no effects of the fees on healthcare utilization and no evidence that the fees disproportionately affect disadvantaged groups. Additional survey-based analyses suggest that doctors may use their discretion to mitigate the fee's impact on immigrants, highlighting how frontline workers can potentially reduce the effects of burdensome policies.