Race/ethnicity, educational attainment, and foregone health care in the United States in the 2007-2009 recession

S.A. Burgard and J.M. Hawkins

American Journal of Public Health, 2014, vol. 104, issue 2, e134-e140

Abstract: Objectives. This study assessed possible associations between recessions and changes in the magnitude of social disparities in foregone health care, building on previous studies that have linked recessions to lowered health care use. Methods. Data from the 2006 to 2010 waves of the National Health Interview Study were used to examine levels of foregone medical, dental andmental health care and prescribed medications. Differences by race/ethnicity and education were compared before the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009, during the early recession, and later in the recession and in its immediate wake. Results. Foregone care rose for working-aged adults overall in the 2 recessionary periods compared with the pre-recession. For multiple types of pre-recession care, foregoing care was more common for African Americans and Hispanics and less common for Asian Americans than for Whites. Less-educated individuals were more likely to forego all types of care pre-recession. Most disparities in foregone care were stable during the recession, though the African American- White gap in foregone medical care increased, as did the Hispanic-White gap and education gap in foregone dental care. Conclusions. Our findings support the fundamental cause hypothesis, as even during a recession inwhichmore advantaged groups may have had unusually high risk of losing financial assets and employer-provided health insurance, theymaintained their relative advantage in access to health care. Attention to themacroeconomic context of social disparities in health care use is warranted.

Keywords: prescription drug, adult; article; dental procedure; economic recession; educational status; ethnic group; female; health care disparity; health service; health survey; human; male; mental health service; middle aged; race; social determinants of health; statistics; United States; utilization review, Adult; Continental Population Groups; Dental Care; Economic Recession; Educational Status; Ethnic Groups; Female; Health Services; Health Surveys; Healthcare Disparities; Humans; Male; Mental Health Services; Middle Aged; Prescription Drugs; Social Determinants of Health; United States (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2013.301512_7

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2013.301512

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