Experimental Evidence That a Patient’s Tattoo Increases Their Assigned Health Care Cost Liability

Colin A. Zestcott, Jeff Stone

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Despite the growing popularity of tattoos, research suggests that individuals with tattoos are stigmatized in the United States. However, minimal research has examined potential disparities faced by tattooed individuals in the health care domain. Two studies examined perceivers’ illness responsibility ratings and health care cost beliefs for a tattooed or nontattooed patient with either a dispositional or situational illness cause. Results replicated previous research showing that nontattooed patients are assigned more liability for their health care costs when the causes for illness were dispositional compared to situational. However, as predicted, the results showed that perceivers rated a tattooed male with HIV (Study 1) and a tattooed female with lung cancer (Study 2) as more liable for their health care costs, regardless of whether or not their illness was attributed to dispositional or situational causes. Ratings of how responsible the tattooed patient was for the illness mediated these differences in Study 1 but not in Study 2. These results provide initial evidence that tattooed individuals face health disparities. Implications for health care providers and future directions are discussed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)442-449
Number of pages8
JournalStigma and Health
Volume4
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2019
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • attribution
  • bias
  • health care cost
  • illness responsibility
  • tattoo

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Psychology
  • Clinical Psychology
  • Health Policy
  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
  • Psychiatry and Mental health

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