The economic impact of health disparities in the U.S. are “unacceptably high,” according to a recent study published in JAMA. The research, funded by the NIH’s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, includes national and state-level estimates of the economic burden of both racial and ethnic and educational-related health disparities.
The research team estimate racial and ethnic health disparities to have cost the U.S. economy $451 billion in 2018, which is a 41 percent increase from the previous estimate of $320 billion in 2014. Researchers also estimate health disparities by educational levels to have cost $978 billion in 2018, which is about two times more than the annual growth rate of the economy in 2018.
Economic burden of racial and ethnic health disparities estimates
The economic burden at a national level includes:
- Premature death (65 percent) was the leading burden across all racial and ethnic groups except Asian.
- The Black and African American (69 percent) population bore the greatest burden borne across a racial and ethnic group.
- The racial and ethnic groups that bore the most burden from premature deaths were Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander individuals (90 percent), Black and African American individuals (77 percent), and American Indian and Alaska Native individuals (74 percent). The Asian population (55 percent) had the most burden from excess health care costs, whereas the Hispanic and Latino population (43 percent) had the most burden from lost labor market productivity.
The economic burden at a state level includes:
- The Black and African American population (33 states) had the highest burden by number of states, followed by the Hispanic and Latino population (nine states), the American Indian and Alaska Native population (eight states), and the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander population (one state).
- The five states with the highest burden include Texas ($41 billion), California ($40 billion), Illinois ($29 billion), Florida ($27 billion), and Georgia ($21 billion).
- The burden per person was the highest in the District of Columbia ($4,965) compared to Vermont, which had the lowest ($76).
Economic burden of education-related health disparities estimates
The economic burden at a national level includes:
- The highest burden across all educational levels was premature deaths (66 percent), followed by lost labor market productivity (18 percent) and excess health care costs (16 percent).
- The burden by educational levels was highest among individuals with a high school education (61 percent), followed by those with less than a high school education (26 percent) and some college education (13 percent).
The economic burden at a state level includes:
- Most states had the highest burden among adults with less than a high school education (31 states), followed by those with a high school education (20 states). Those with some college education had the lowest burden across all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
- The five states with the highest burden include Texas ($71 billion), California ($59 billion), Florida ($57 billion), North Carolina ($48 billion), and Ohio ($48 billion).
- The burden per person was the highest in South Carolina ($8,432) compared to California, which had the lowest ($1,503).
“The results of this study demonstrate that health inequity represents not just unfair and unequal health outcomes, but it also has a significant financial cost,” said lead author Thomas LaVeist, Ph.D., dean of Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, in a statement. “While it surely will cost to address health inequities, there are also substantial costs associated with not addressing them. Health inequities is a social justice issue, but it is also an economic issue.”
Click here for a full breakdown of all state and national economic burdens of racial and ethnic and education-related health disparities in the U.S.
