Concentration of Healthcare Expenditures and Selected Characteristics of Persons With High Expenses
The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 considerably disrupted the way people seek out and utilize medical care in the United States and across much of the world. Concentration of Healthcare Expenditures and Selected Characteristics of Persons with High Expensesm U.S. Civilian Noninstitutionalized Population a statistical brief from the AHRQ’s Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component (MEPS-HC), describe the overall concentration of healthcare expenditures across the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population in 2020 compared with previous years. The most commonly treated conditions among persons in the top expenditure groups are identified, and the shares of expenses by age groups, race/ethnicity, type of medical service, and source of payment are illustrated for 2020.
Highlights:
- The population rate of emergency department (ED) visits related to substance use disorders (SUDs) was 28.5 ED visits per 1,000 population in 2019. The rate was highest among Black non-Hispanic individuals (48.3 ED visits per 1,000 population) and lowest for Asian/Pacific Islander non-Hispanic individuals (5.3 ED visits per 1,000 population)
- The population rate of SUD-related ED visits was approximately twice as high for men as women, regardless of an individual’s race and ethnicity (37.3 vs. 20.1 ED visits per 1,000 population).
- The rate of SUD-related ED visits was higher among individuals living in the most socially vulnerable communities versus less socially vulnerable communities for all racial and ethnic groups except Asian/Pacific Islander non-Hispanic individuals.
- Population rates of ED visits for specific substances varied by race and ethnicity. Black non-Hispanic individuals had the highest rate of ED visits related to cannabis-, stimulant-, and opioid-related disorders (15.6, 11.4, and 6.5 ED visits per 1,000 population, respectively) compared with all other racial and ethnic groups. White non-Hispanic individuals had the highest rate of ED visits related to sedative-related disorders (1.1 ED visits per 1,000 population).
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