Doctors say insurance influences treatment

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Doctors say insurance influences treatment

NEW YORK, Mar 25 (Reuters Health) - Most physicians believe health

insurance coverage--more than race, income or other factors--determines

the type of care a patient receives, a new Kaiser Family Foundation

survey reveals.

Seventy-two percent of doctors surveyed agreed that the US healthcare

system treats people unfairly " very often " or " somewhat often " based on

whether or not they have insurance coverage.

Majorities of physicians said that the healthcare system " rarely " or

" never " treats people unfairly based on income (52%), fluency in English

(55%), educational status (60%), race or ethnicity (69%) and sexual

orientation (84%). However, significant proportions of doctors believe

money (47%), English-speaking skills (43%) and education (39%) are

factors in unfair treatment.

The role that insurance is believed to play in people's healthcare is

one of the key findings from Kaiser's National Survey of Physicians, a

random sample of 2,608 doctors who provide direct patient care. Findings

from Part I, released on Friday, focus on physicians' perception of

disparities in the healthcare system.

Significant majorities of doctors agreed that a person's lack of

insurance results in unfair treatment, whether the doctors were black,

Latino, Asian or white. Black doctors were most convinced of the bias,

with 88% agreeing that patients get treated unfairly based on whether

they have insurance, versus 72% of white doctors.

However, the survey reveals sharply differing perceptions--by

physicians' race or ethnicity--about the role a patient's race or

ethnicity plays in healthcare treatment.

Seventy-seven percent of African American and 52% of Latino physicians

say unfair treatment based on race or ethnicity happens at least

somewhat often, versus 33% of Asian and 25% of white physicians.

A summary of the findings and accompanying charts are available on

Kaiser's Web site, at www.kff.org. Complete survey results will be

released later in 2002.