TY - JOUR T1 - Cumulative inequality and racial disparities in health: private insurance coverage and black/white differences in functional limitations. JF - J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci Y1 - 2014 A1 - Ben Lennox Kail A1 - Miles G Taylor KW - Activities of Daily Living KW - Aged KW - Aged, 80 and over KW - Black or African American KW - Cross-Sectional Studies KW - Female KW - Health Status Disparities KW - Hispanic or Latino KW - Humans KW - Insurance Coverage KW - Insurance, Health KW - Longitudinal Studies KW - Male KW - Medicare KW - Socioeconomic factors KW - United States AB -

OBJECTIVES: To test different forms of private insurance coverage as mediators for racial disparities in onset, persistent level, and acceleration of functional limitations among Medicare age-eligible Americans.

METHOD: Data come from 7 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (1996-2008). Onset and progression latent growth models were used to estimate racial differences in onset, level, and growth of functional limitations among a sample of 5,755 people aged 65 and older in 1996. Employer-provided insurance, spousal insurance, and market insurance were next added to the model to test how differences in private insurance mediated the racial gap in physical limitations.

RESULTS: In baseline models, African Americans had larger persistent level of limitations over time. Although employer-provided, spousal provided, and market insurances were directly associated with lower persistent levels of limitation, only differences in market insurance accounted for the racial disparities in persistent level of limitations.

DISCUSSION: Results suggest private insurance is important for reducing functional limitations, but market insurance is an important mediator of the persistently larger level of limitations observed among African Americans.

PB - 69 VL - 69 UR - http://psychsocgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/02/24/geronb.gbu005.abstract IS - 5 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24569001?dopt=Abstract U2 - PMC4189650 U4 - Cumulative inequality/Insurance/Functional limitations/Private insurance ER -