"If you keep making faces, it will freeze that way." "Put your hat on or you'll catch pneumonia." Such stock phrases have led to jokes that wives and mothers are privy to specialized medical information. Actually, they may just be paying more attention. Recent Gallup data suggest that women, whether they're married, single, or mothers, are much more interested in medical matters than are men.
A November 2001 Gallup poll* found that 18- to 49-year-old women visit a doctor an average of 6.6 times per year. Men in that age group see a doctor less than half as often, an average of 3.2 times annually.
Obviously, women make extra doctor visits for gynecological and obstetric concerns -- but that doesn't fully explain the disparity. According to the American Medical Association, women make 61% of physician visits, buy 69% of prescription drugs, and make 75% of all healthcare decisions, including decisions regarding family healthcare. "I definitely see more women than men. Women always make the appointments. I see men because their wives have insisted on it," said Dr. Charles P. Rogers, a physician in Omaha, Neb. "I think women really drive the utilization of healthcare in this country."
Only as men age do they visit doctors more often -- an average of 4.2 times a year for men 50 and older, but still slightly less often than women in that age category. "Men don't get excited about healthcare maintenance until they are older and start to ‘slow down,' or something terrible, like a heart attack or cancer, happens to a friend or family member," Rogers said.
Quality and Affordability of Healthcare
Women also tend to have a slightly lower opinion than men do of the overall quality of healthcare services themselves. According to the November poll, 57% of men said the quality of healthcare in this country is "excellent" or "good." Fewer women, 50%, called American healthcare either "excellent" or "good."
It's important when considering possible explanations for the differences to acknowledge that women tend to want different things from their doctors. As a recent American Medical News article (see Related Sites) noted, when men go to the doctor, they have a "fix-the-problem" mentality, but women see healthcare more holistically and prefer a personable approach. "Half the time, even if you can't ‘fix' the problem, women appreciate someone who listens and takes their problem seriously, even if there isn't any intervention," said Rogers.
Women also tend to worry more than men about healthcare's availability and affordability. March 2002** Gallup poll results reveal that compared to men, women are more likely to worry "a great deal" about this issue, by a margin of 63% to 48%. Eleven percent of men don't worry about it "at all," compared to only 4% of women.
In January 2002***, Gallup asked a slightly different question. Americans were asked to rate "the availability of affordable healthcare." Men and women were equally "very satisfied" at 8%, but 28% of men were "somewhat satisfied" compared to just 18% of women. Women are also more likely to be "very dissatisfied" with the availability of affordable healthcare (46% of women versus 31% of men).
Key Points
When it comes to cost and the overall quality of care, women simply seem to expect more from the U.S. healthcare system than men do. The implications are far-reaching: Medical facilities that want a bigger market share, for example, may do well to concentrate on women, and politicians looking to court the female vote may do well to spend more time on healthcare-related issues.
*Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,005 adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Nov. 8-11, 2001. For results based on the total sample of adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the margin of sampling error is ±3%.
**Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,006 adults, aged 18 and older, conducted March 3-7, 2002. For results based on the total sample of adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the margin of sampling error is ±3%.
***Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,008 adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Jan. 11-14, 2002. For results based on the total sample of adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the margin of sampling error is ±3%.