Disparities in Medicare Services: Potential Causes, Plausible Explanations, and Recommendations

Race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES) are associated with the use of Medicare services. In this article, the author juxtaposes disparities in health outcome measures (including death rates for heart disease, cancer, and stroke) with disparities in the use of elective services expected to improve health, and with disparities in the use of non-elective services associated with poor management of chronic disease. This approach is intended to provide information for judging (a) the reasonableness of the explanations offered for disparities in Medicare utilization and (b) the recommendations made to effect change.