Overview

A new survey by The Commonwealth Fund reveals that on a wide range of health care quality measures—including effective patient–physician communication, overcoming cultural and linguistic barriers, and access to health care and insurance coverage—minority Americans do not fare as well as whites. African Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanics are more likely than whites to experience difficulty communicating with their physician, to feel that they are treated with disrespect when receiving health care, to experience barriers to access to care such as lack of insurance or not having a regular doctor, and to feel they would receive better care if they were of a different race or ethnicity. While the health care experiences of different minority groups do vary significantly, many common concerns emerge. The survey findings also frequently reveal wide variation within racial and ethnic groups.

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