Wendy Xu

Low-income Americans are more likely than higher-income individuals to have multiple chronic conditions, older, living in rural areas with poor access to appropriate health care, and are vulnerable to higher financial burdens from health care spending. Health care for the vulnerable populations has been a focus in my research, which addresses the causes of these problems arising from certain aspects of the U.S. health care system design, as well as the consequences of health policies attending to these issues.

Dr. Wendy Xu's research examines two topics related to accessing adequacy and financial burdens in vulnerable populations: (1) the redistributive effects of insurance benefits on consumers of different demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, and (2) disparities in cost-related access to care and provider supply adequacy for vulnerable populations. Her research has primarily employed complex survey data and large administrative claims databases.