Mortality Rates by Race and Ethnicity Among People with Disabilities -- by Madeline S. Helfer, Becky Staiger, Jessica Van Parys

This paper uses Medicaid claims data from 2017-2021 to measure racial/ethnic disparities in mid-life mortality among low-income adults with disabilities receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI). We find that American Indian and Alaska Native and White SSI recipients have the highest age-adjusted mid-life mortality rates (2.9% and 2.6%, respectively), followed by Black and Hispanic recipients (2.3% and 1.9%), and then Asian recipients (1.6%). We also find differences in diagnosed chronic conditions, "despair-related" conditions, substance use disorders, and disabling conditions by race/ethnicity. Controlling for these differences attenuates the White-Hispanic, White-Asian, and AIAN-White mortality gaps; however, differences in clinical diagnoses by race do not affect the White-Black mortality gap. Our results show that within a socioeconomically vulnerable population, Black adults outlive Whites.