Racial/Ethnic Disparities Before and After Medicare Eligibility: 6 Comparisons

1. Insurance coverage before Medicare Eligibility: 77.4% for Hispanics, 86.3% for Blacks; 92% for Whites
2. Insurance coverage after Medicare Eligibility: 91.3% for Hispanics, 95.8% for Blacks; 98.5% for Whites
3. Disparity in cost-related barriers to care between Whites and Hispanics: 11.4% before Medicare; 6.9% after Medicare
4. Disparity in cost-related barriers to care between Whites and Blacks: 5.8% before Medicare; 4.3% after Medicare
5. Disparity in access to care between Whites and Hispanics: 10.5% before Medicare; 7.5% after Medicare
6. Access to a usual source of care before and after Medicare Eligibility was not significantly different between Whites and Blacks.

Notes: This study compared racial and ethnic disparities before and after age 65 years, the age of Medicare eligibility, for over 2.4 million Americans from January 2008 to December 2018. From an article entitled, "Changes in Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Access to Care and Health Among US Adults at Age 65 Years," by Jacob Wallace, PhD; Karen Jiang, BA; Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, PhD; et. al.
Source: JAMA Internal Medicine, July 26, 2021
Source URL: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/articl...

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