Capsule Commentary on Okunrintemi et al., Association of Income Disparities with Patient Reported Healthcare Experience

Abstract

ture Panel Survey (MEPS) data on income-related disparities in experiences with the healthcare system is an important contribution to the literature. The finding of worse access to care, delays in care, and dissatisfaction with the care received by low-income individuals is certainly not surprising but should nonetheless be alarming given the current retreat on recent healthcare reforms designed to enhance equity in the delivery and receipt of care in the USA. The authors' findings were fairly similar across racial and ethnic groups when adjusted for income (figure e1) but the income disparities in healthcare experience were accentuated by lack of health insurance (figure e2). This analysis of recent nationally representative survey data confirms that there is substantial income-based disparity in patient healthcare experiences just as there are substantial disparities in healthcare outcomes in the USA. 2, 3 Since healthcare in the USA is a moving, evolving target, this report is limited by the survey data being 6-8 years old-pre-dating implementation of the Affordable Care Act. It will be interesting to see whether more recent MEPS Survey panels demonstrate different healthcare experiences by income and insurance subgroup. Though the reported analyses are restricted to patients having a Bregular healthcare provider^(which might tend to level the playing field across incomes), results were similar without this restriction (Table e3).