According to a study published recently in the journal Health Affairs, blacks and Hispanics in the United States are substantially more likely than whites to believe that minorities receive a lower level of healthcare. Do nonwhites report receiving a lower standard of healthcare than whites do, and if so, is there evidence that nonwhites are suffering from poorer health as a result? Aggregated data from Gallup's 2000-2002 healthcare polls* offer insight on these questions.
Ratings of the Quality of Healthcare Received
Gallup asked respondents to rate the quality of healthcare that they receive. Whites (30%) are significantly more likely than nonwhites (24%) to rate the quality of healthcare they receive as excellent. Conversely, nonwhites (26%) are significantly more likely than whites (16%) to rate the quality of healthcare received as only fair or poor.
Ratings of Physical, Mental, and Emotional Health
Gallup also asked Americans to rate their "own physical health," and in a separate question asked them to rate their "mental health or emotional well-being," and found similarly mixed results when comparing whites' and nonwhites' responses. While there is little variance between the responses of whites and nonwhites in their ratings of their physical health, there are some substantial differences in ratings of mental/emotional health.
One-third of whites (33%) rate their physical health as excellent -- slightly higher than the percentage of nonwhites who do so (27%). Equal percentages of both groups (47%) rate their physical health as good. More nonwhites than whites describe their physical health as only fair or poor -- 25% compared to 20%, respectively.
For nonwhites, the ratings of the quality of healthcare received closely parallel the ratings for physical health. Nonwhites rate their physical health slightly lower than whites do, and nonwhites are also more likely than whites to give poor ratings to the quality of healthcare they receive.
Whites and nonwhites are equally likely to rate their mental/emotional health as excellent (43% and 44%, respectively), but nonwhites are significantly more likely than whites to rate their mental/emotional health as only fair or poor -- 24% to 15%, respectively. Nonwhites are more likely than whites to be economically and socially disadvantaged, and perhaps more likely to feel alienated from the broader society -- two possible factors in their greater likelihood to suffer from emotional and mental stress.
Bottom Line
The Gallup data provide support for the notion that racial and ethnic minorities are receiving a lower quality of healthcare. Nonwhites give less positive ratings to the healthcare they personally receive than whites do. Additionally, nonwhites are more likely to report poorer physical and mental health than whites are.
Certainly, there is significant room for improvement in self-reported health status of all Americans. Only 32% of total respondents rate their physical health as excellent, and 43% say the same about their mental health and emotional well-being. At the same time, only 29% of Americans report that the quality of healthcare they receive is excellent. But Gallup's data suggest a significant gap between whites and nonwhites in perceived quality of healthcare received and perceived health status, particularly with regard to mental/emotional health.
*Results based on an aggregate of telephone interviews with 2,006 American adults, aged 18 and older, conducted from 2000 through 2002. For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±2.4%.
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