Yes, Women do Spend More on Healthcare

I was doing some research today on women’s use of healthcare and came across an article in the journal Health Services Research showing healthcare expenditure differences by gender. I thought readers would find the findings interesting:

Principal Findings

Per capita lifetime expenditure is $316,600, a third higher for females ($361,200) than males ($268,700). Two-fifths of this difference owes to women’s longer life expectancy. Nearly one-third of lifetime expenditures is incurred during middle age, and nearly half during the senior years. For survivors to age 85, more than one-third of their lifetime expenditures will accrue in their remaining years.

However, these stats look to be from 2004 or before. Does anyone know of some updated statistics on healthcare differences between the genders?

Also, if women are living longer and spending more on healthcare costs, tell me why there is a “war on women” in healthcare?