By Nancy Lapid(Reuters) - The quality of healthcare for minority children in the United States is universally worse than it is for white children, even after accounting for insurance coverage, an analysis of dozens of recent studies found.
The pattern was similar across all medical specialties, including newborn care, emergency medicine, primary care, surgery, hospital care, endocrinology, mental health care, care for developmental disabilities, and palliative care, researchers said.
Even after adjusting for type of health insurance, family socioeconomic position, and other health conditions, the disparities were clear.
“Across multiple healthcare specialties, non-white children receive poorer care relative to white children," study coauthor Dr. Monique Jindal of the University of Illinois Chicago School of Medicine said in an email.
“The impacts of housing, employment, health insurance, the criminal justice system, and immigration are impossible to disentangle and are cumulatively responsible” for the poorer care for minority children, she said.
Persons:
Nancy Lapid, Monique Jindal, ”, Jindal, Bill Berkrot
Organizations:
University of Illinois Chicago School of Medicine, Adolescent
Locations:
United States