White Americans got disproportionate share of healthcare dollars in 2016, study finds

White Americans received 72% of all healthcare spending in 2016 despite making up 61% of the population, according to a new study that found major disparities in racial and ethnic health spending (Source: “Study: White Americans got disproportionate amount of healthcare dollars in 2016,” Fierce Healthcare, Aug. 17).

The study, published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association and conducted by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, found that African Americans make up 12% of the population and accounted for 11% of healthcare spending. However, the spending was skewed based on how African Americans were getting care. African Americans got 26% less outpatient care compared to whites but spent 12% more on emergency department care, the study found. This likely contributed to African Americans getting more expensive care when conditions worsened instead of getting more preventive outpatient care, experts said.

“Hispanic and Asian Americans received the least spending relative to their proportion of the population: Hispanic patients benefited from 11% of healthcare spending despite accounting for 18% of the population, while Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander individuals received 3% of spending while making up 6% of the population,” according to a release on the study.