Racial discrimination at the core of US healthcare

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A Commonwealth Fund report released Thursday has found that elder Americans were more likely to report racial and ethnic discrimination in the health care system than the elderly in 10 other affluent nations.

More than a quarter reported that they have not received the health care they believed they required due to prejudice.

Thirty-two percent of Americans over the age of 60 believe that the US healthcare system discriminates against people based on their race. With 17%  Canada had the second-highest incidence of older individuals reporting discrimination in its healthcare system.

Other nations polled in the study were Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Twenty-five percent of Black persons over the age of 60 felt their health professional treated them unjustly or did not take their concerns seriously because of their race or ethnic origin.

The figures for Latinx adults were comparable, with 23 percent reporting such prejudice. Meanwhile, just 3% of white respondents said they had faced prejudice.

The survey, done between March 1 to June 14, included 1,969 adults aged 60 and older. 

An earlier Commonwealth Fund investigation found a troubling link between race and maternal mortality.

According to the survey, black women in the US are nearly three times more likely than white women to die from pregnancy problems.