Effects of Race and Income on Mortality and Use of Services among Medicare Beneficiaries

Studies of the use of services in the first two decades of the Medicare program showed that racial disparities were disappearing with regard to overall measures, such as rates of visits to physicians and hospital discharges. 1 – 3 In 1967, the first full year of Medicare, the hospital-discharge rate was 29 percent lower among minority beneficiaries (most of whom were black) than among white beneficiaries; by 1987, the rate among blacks was 4 percent higher than among whites. 4 , 5 More recent analyses, however, show wide racial disparities in the use of many medical and surgical services. 5 – 14 Such disparities have also . . .