Eight in 10 Black Americans believe race impacts health care: survey

NEW YORK -- Distrust of health care remains an issue among Black Americans, with one recent survey finding an estimated 80 percent of Black respondents believe race impacts the quality of health care individuals receive, reported Newsweek on Tuesday.

While awareness of racial disparities in health care is not new in the United States, the coronavirus pandemic "has only exacerbated what already felt like insurmountable barriers, leaving the Black community vulnerable and bogged down by the weight of economic despair," said the report.

Researchers also found that Black Americans "are at a disadvantage" in comparison with white Americans "across the full spectrum of economic achievement," illuminating "the impact that decades of racial pressures and systemic inequalities have had on people of color."

About 40 percent of the survey's respondents believe that the "health care system discriminates against me," a feeling that was reported among only about 23 percent of white respondents. Some 55 percent feel the health care system "profits off me without really helping me."

Published on Tuesday in conjunction with the National Urban League's annual State of Black America report, the Pulse of Black America survey assessed economic, career, health and civic engagement factors among respondents, based on interviews with 1,674 American adults on March 17-24.