Beyond improving our health and finances, does health care reform help us be more helpful to others?

Former Harvard RWJF Health & Society Scholar Stefan Timmermans, PhD, is author on a paper published in the journal Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World that suggests that both formal volunteering and informal helpfulness between neighbors increased in regions and segments of the population that likely benefited from Medicaid expansions. Not only can prosocial behavior like volunteering be beneficial for societies, but it can also improve the well-being of those engaged in the giving.