The objective of the study was to validate the assumption that respondents who self-identified as white, were more likely to be enrolled in a Medicare Advantage HMO Plan and underutilize health care services when compared to their non-white counterparts.

The results showed that the majority of the respondents in the stratified population of Medicare eligible respondents were categorized as White, 11,271 out of 15,297, and 42% reported being enrolled in a Medicare Advantage HMO Plan. A total of 3,685 of the White respondents on Medicare Advantage HMO Plans indicated they were in "Good" or better health, which was 78% of all White respondents in this population. The mean number of times that White respondents were seen by an MD (Figure 2) fell within the same range of 5-6 times for the majority of the Race/Ethnic groups. The mean number of hospital stays for Whites and the other Race/Ethnic groups ranged from 1.86-1.92 within the same 12 month period, with the exception of Pacific Islanders.