For this article, the authors used the National Medical Expenditure Survey (NMES) to look at
health insurance coverage for persons aged 50 and older. Although previous research has shown
that race, gender, and region influence health insurance status, little is known about how these
factors interact to affect that status. It was found that there is a crucial intersection of gender,
race, and region in the reliance on Medicaid and in not having any insurance for persons aged
50 and older. Over 73% of southern Black women are covered by Medicaid, compared to 9.4%,
16.6%, and 33% of southern White men, White women, and Black men, respectively. Having no
insurance or insurance coverage through Medicaid, being unmarried, and having low levels of
formal education are associated with reports of significantly higher levels of disability among
older women. The article concludes with the implications of these findings for national health
and family policy.
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