Rural-Urban Differences in Health Care Expenditures: Empirical Data from US Households

Table 2

Weighted description of personal characteristics by residence, MEPS 2010.

Weighted percentage	Urban; ( = 19,561)	Rural; ( = 3,211)	value
Predisposing
Age
18–44	49.0	43.0	0.0003
45–64	34.8	36.7
65 and older	16.2	20.3
Gender (% of women)	51.5	51.9	0.6206
Race/ethnicity
Others	7.3	3.3	<0.0001
Hispanic	15.4	6.4
Non-Hispanic black	12.2	7.6
Non-Hispanic white	65.1	82.6
Education level
Lower than high school	16.5	22.8	<0.0001
Equal to high school	53.3	58.0
Higher than high school	30.2	19.2
Enabling
Poverty
Poor or near poor	16.5	20.4	<0.0001
Low income	13.0	15.3
Middle income	29.5	34.5
High income	41.0	29.8
Health insurance status
Any private insurance	68.0	63.9	0.0039
Only public insurance	16.6	21.0
Uninsured	15.4	15.1
Care needs
Perceived physical health status
Very good or excellent	59.1	53.2	0.0001
Good	27.0	29.1
Poor or fair	13.9	17.7
Perceived mental health status
Very good or excellent	70.0	65.0	0.0023
Good	22.9	26.6
Poor or fair	7.1	8.3
Any limitation on functions (% of having any limitation)	25.3	33.3	<0.0001
Number of chronic diseases
No chronic disease	35.7	30.3	<0.0001
1 chronic disease	21.9	19.3
2 and more chronic diseases	42.4	50.4