NB23-17: Tracking Racial Health Disparities in the SSI Population Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

In the U.S., there are large disparities in healthcare access, utilization and health by race/ethnicity. For low-income people with disabilities, enrollment in the SSI program, which provides access to Medicaid, presents an opportunity to treat and manage their health conditions through regular access to primary and specialty care at no or little cost. However, little is known about racial/ethnic health care disparities among SSI recipients who, as people with disabilities, face additional physical access and care barriers. This project will use Medicaid claims data to measure and track health disparities by race/ethnicity in the SSI population from 2016-2020 and evaluate how these disparities evolved before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Medicaid claims data are particularly useful for measuring disparities in health and health care utilization, especially since the Medicaid data include self-reported race/ethnicity information. We propose the following aims:
• Estimate unadjusted disparities in health outcomes: Our first aim is to estimate disparities in health outcomes, such as mortality rates, morbidity rates, and rates of emergency health care utilization, by race and ethnicity, for each year during the period 2016-2020.
• Estimate adjusted disparities in health outcomes: Our second aim is to “adjust” these health disparities for SSI recipient age and geographic location. The goal is to show whether racial/ethnic health disparities persist after accounting for racial/ethnic differences in recipient age and where recipients live.
• Measure disparities in COVID-19 outcomes: Our third aim is to measure disparities in documented COVID-19 cases and excess mortality in 2020 (compared with 2019) by race and ethnicity in the SSI population.
• Prepare manuscript: We will prepare a manuscript reporting our findings and comparing racial health disparities among the SSI population with existing research on racial health disparities in the general US population.