Racial and ethnic disparities in health care and health outcomes persist throughout the U.S. health care system. Such disparities are particularly relevant to Medicaid given that more than half of the program’s 73 million beneficiaries identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian American, or another non-white race or ethnicity.
The racial justice protests during the summer of 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic have placed a new spotlight on disparities. COVID-19 has disproportionately affected communities of color. Black, Hispanic and Asian American people had higher overall rates of infection, hospitalization, and death due to COVID-19 than white people. Women of color also experience greater risks of maternal morbidity, mortality, and giving birth to a preterm or low-birthweight infant.
To inform efforts to address such disparities, MACPAC compiled an annotated bibliography of studies on disparities in Medicaid that have appeared in peer-reviewed journals as well as those published by policy and research organizations and government agencies. The studies document that Medicaid beneficiaries who are Black, Hispanic, and American Indian and Alaska Native experience poorer outcomes and experience more barriers to care than white beneficiaries. The studies provide a useful overview across a broad range of policy targets (e.g., coverage, access to specific types of services, data) and across multiple age and racial and ethnic groups.