Women's health care utilization and expenditures.
This study examines women's use and expenditures for medical care in the US. In 2000, 91% of women aged 18 years and older used any form of health care services. Overall, 82% of adult women reported an ambulatory care visit, and 11% had an inpatient hospital stay. Mean expense per person with expenses was 3219 dollars for that year. We examined use and expenditures by sociodemographic characteristics. The most notable findings indicate that women with private insurance and those on Medicaid are more likely to use health services than uninsured women. White women, compared to black and Hispanic women, are more likely to have an ambulatory care visit, buy prescription drugs, and use preventive health care services. In addition, white and Hispanic women pay a higher proportion of medical care expenses out-of-pocket than do black women. Finally, nearly 30% of older women in fair or poor health spent 10% or more of their income on medical care. Preventable disparities in access to and receipt of care are unacceptable. To improve the quality of health care for all women, it is important for policymakers to understand the factors that influence their utilization and expenditures for medical care. Data collection, analysis, and reporting by race, ethnicity, and primary language across federally supported health programs are essential to help identify, understand the causes of, monitor, and eventually eliminate disparities.
Taylor
Amy K
AK
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, Maryland 20850, USA. ataylor@ahrq.gov
Larson
Sharon
S
Correa-de-Araujo
Rosaly
R
D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001213:Asian / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000191:economics; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008484:Medicaid / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000208:ethnology*; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D014481:United States; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014932:Women's Health Services / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*