Women of Color Have Less Access to Doctors in California

Women of color in California say they have a more difficult time finding a personal doctor and affording visits than white women, according to a new report.

About 26 percent of women who identified as Hispanic and 17 percent of black women said they hadn’t seen a doctor in the past year because of cost, according to a 2012-14 survey from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Comparably, 16 percent of white women said they couldn’t afford a doctor’s visit in the last year.

In the same survey, 35 percent of Hispanic women and 15 percent of black women in California reported not having a personal doctor or health care provider. About 13 percent of white women said the same.

The survey results were compiled in a Women’s Health report released Dec. 15 by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The report does not include data on women of other races or ethnicities.

Women of color in California were also more likely to report having fair or poor health. According to the CDC survey, 31 percent of Hispanic women and 23 percent of black women said they were in fair or poor health, compared to 13 percent of white women.

 

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