Seth Freedman specializes in health economics and health policy. He joined O'Neill in 2012 after completing his PhD in Economics at the University of Maryland and spending two years as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholar in Health Policy Research at the University of Michigan.
Freedman's research focuses on how healthcare providers make decisions, how public health insurance and other policies shape the healthcare system, and how to rigorously evaluate those policies. His work examines how capacity constraints, time pressure, and technology affect clinical decisions and patient outcomes. He also studies the effects of Medicaid and other insurance expansions, as well as the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for children's health. He also works on applied empirical research methods.
His research has been published in journals such as Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Public Economics, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, Journal of Human Resources, Journal of Labor Economics, Journal of Health Economics, JAMA Internal Medicine, Annual Review of Public Health, and Health Affairs. His study of time pressure in primary care was named a finalist for the National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) Foundation Research Award. His research has been funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the National Institutes of Health.
Freedman teaches health policy and health economics in O'Neill's undergraduate and master's programs and econometric methods in the Ph.D. program. He has received the Trustees Teaching Award three times, in 2019, 2023, and 2025.
