Latino, Black Ohioans face cost barriers to health care, HPIO Dashboard data shows

Analysis of data from HPIO’s 2023 Health Value Dashboard shows that Hispanic and Black Ohioans face barriers to health care because of costs. Data shows that Hispanic Ohioans are 2.4 times more likely to be unable to see a doctor due to cost compared to white Ohioans, as illustrated above. Black Ohioans are 1.6 times more likely than white Ohioans to face financial challenges to receiving medical care. If disparities were eliminated in Ohio, 76,449 fewer Hispanic and Black Ohioans would face a cost barrier to accessing care.

The Dashboard found that Black and Latino Ohioans often experience worse outcomes than white Ohioans across measures of health, healthcare access and the social, economic and physical environment and that racism and bias are primary drivers of poor outcomes experienced by those groups. These disparities in outcomes lead to missed economic opportunities for Ohio.

Next month, HPIO plans to release a new policy brief that will quantify the positive economic impacts of eliminating racial disparities for Ohio businesses, governments and communities.