Racial disparities in medical expenditures within body weight categories

Area of Science:

• Health economics
• Health disparities research
• Sociology of health

Background:

• Persistent racial disparities in obesity prevalence and healthcare utilization exist despite federal guidelines.
• Black-White differences in medical expenditures and healthcare service use continue to be observed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate Black-White differences in medical expenditures and healthcare utilization across various body weight categories.
• To analyze variations in office-based visits, hospital outpatient visits, ER visits, inpatient stays, and prescription medication use by race and weight.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the 2006 Medical Expenditures Panel Survey (MEPS), including 15,164 non-Hispanic White and Black adults.
• Employed a standard two-part econometric model to assess racial differences in total annual medical expenditures and service-specific costs within body weight categories.

Main Results:

• Black adults were less likely to use any medical care than White adults across all weight categories, even after controlling for confounders.
• Among those receiving care, total medical spending did not significantly differ between Black and White individuals.
• Black individuals showed significantly lower utilization of office-based visits, hospital outpatient visits, and medications compared to White individuals.

Conclusions:

• Significant Black-White differences in total medical expenditures were found across healthy weight, overweight, and obese I categories.
• Observed expenditure disparities were primarily linked to less costly services (e.g., office visits, medications) rather than high-cost services (e.g., inpatient care).
• These racial differences in healthcare spending are not fully attributable to socio-demographics, health conditions, or health beliefs.