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Examining racial and ethnic differences in health care expenditures among older adults with arthritis in the United States

Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: BACKGROUND: More than 65 million Americans suffer from arthritis, which is the primary cause of disability in older adults. Arthritis is also a leading disease, with more than $600 billion in medical expenses each year. There is, however, little research on health care expenditure by race and ethnicity among older adults with arthritis. OBJECTIVE: To examine the racial and ethnic differences in health care expenditures among older adults with arthritis in the United States. METHODS: A retrospective multiyear cross-sectional study using the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data (2018-2022) analyzed health care expenditures of adults aged 65 years and older with arthritis across different races and ethnicities. All-cause expenditures (total, office-based visits, hospital inpatient visits, prescription medicine, and outpatient visits) were compared between Hispanic patients, non-Hispanic Black (NHB) patients, and non-Hispanic White (NHW) patients, adjusting for covariates using SAS version 9.4. RESULTS: = 0.007) after adjusting for covariates. CONCLUSIONS: Total health care expenditures were substantially lower for Hispanic and NHB patients with arthritis compared with NHW patients after adjusting for various covariates. Specifically, Hispanics and NHB patients had lower office-based and outpatient expenditures. Additionally, Hispanic patients incurred lower hospital inpatient expenditures than NHW patients. There is a need for further studies delving into finding reasons for these differences in expenditures, such as behavioral and belief systems that may limit the use of care among racial and ethnic minority groups.
DOI: 10.18553/jmcp.2025.31.10.1075
Language: English
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4414564287
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Cites: 44
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