Gender and race as factors in health care utilization

The National Medical Care Utilization and Expenditure Survey of 1980 was employed to investigate gender and racial differences in the utilization of physicians and hospitals. Regression results indicate more physician contact for women in the post-childbearing years (45–65) than for comparable men. Caucasian, but not African-American, women were found to have lower probabilities of hospitalization than comparable men. Caucasian women over 65 years of age were also found to have significantly fewer nights in hospital than comparable men. A life-cycle hypothesis about gender differences in behavior was tested, using physician contact as a proxy variable for investment in health and number of nights in hospital as a proxy for morbidity. The use of hospitalization as a proxy variable for ill health was called into question by the findings that poverty and lack of health insurance were associated with fewer nights in hospital. College education, known to be correlated with better health, was positively associated with nights in hospital.