Approximately one-third of individuals with disabilities face healthcare discrimination, with about half of them delaying or forgoing medical care as a result. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Urban Institute report reveals that 40% of people with disabilities experience unfair treatment in healthcare, workplace, and public benefits settings, indicating significant disparities. This comes after the NIH designated individuals with disabilities as a group facing health disparities, enabling increased funding for research and solutions to promote equity.
Approximately one-third of individuals with disabilities encounter healthcare discrimination, with about half of them revealing that it caused them to delay or forgo medical care. Data from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute highlights that 40% of people with disabilities report experiencing unfair treatment in healthcare facilities, the workplace, and while accessing public benefits. This disparity underscores how healthcare discrimination can significantly impact the experiences of this demographic.
In total, 32% of adults with disabilities indicated that they had been subject to unfair treatment due to their disabilities or other personal characteristics, a rate significantly higher than that reported by adults without disabilities.
Despite more than three decades of anti-discrimination laws for individuals with disabilities, unequal treatment persists, according to Rachele Tardi, a senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and a liaison to the President’s Council of the Disability and Philanthropy Forum. Achieving equity for people with disabilities necessitates continuous policy improvement and both public and private investments in access and resources.
These findings come shortly after the National Institutes of Health (NIH) designated people with disabilities as a population experiencing health disparities. While various factors contribute to the health disparities faced by individuals with disabilities, the RWJF/Urban Institute report highlights the impact of healthcare discrimination.
The study analyzed data from the Urban Institute’s Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey in 2022, gathering responses from individuals aged 18 to 64, both with and without disabilities, regarding their experiences in healthcare settings, workplaces, and when applying for public benefits.
Overall, 40% of individuals with disabilities reported experiencing unfair treatment in one of these three settings, compared to just 18% of those without disabilities. Specifically regarding healthcare, 32% of individuals with disabilities cited unfair treatment due to their disability or other personal characteristics, compared to 10% of individuals without disabilities.
Of the respondents with disabilities, 14% believed that discrimination was primarily due to their specific disability or health status, while 14% attributed it to their weight, 12% to their insurance type, 11% to their gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation, 10% to their race, ethnicity, country of origin, or language preference, and 9% to their income or education. These numbers were significantly higher than those reported by individuals without disabilities, even when discrimination was unrelated to disability or health status.
Unsurprisingly, racial disparities were evident, with Black and Hispanic individuals with disabilities more likely to report unfair treatment based on their race, ethnicity, country of origin, or primary language compared to White individuals with disabilities.
This discrimination has tangible consequences, as 71% of disabled adults who reported unfair treatment in healthcare settings were discouraged from seeking care. Approximately 54% delayed care, while 50% did not seek care at all due to their negative experiences.
There were also consequences in the workplace and in access to public benefits, as people felt compelled to search for other jobs or delayed or did not access the public benefits they were entitled to. Although not specifically related to discrimination in healthcare settings, these findings suggest issues with crucial social determinants of health, which have downstream impacts on individual well-being.
Experiences of unfair treatment among people with disabilities signal a deep healthcare inequity that the healthcare industry is actively trying to address. As previously mentioned, the NIH’s recent designation of people with disabilities as a population facing health disparities allows for increased funding allocation to research these disparities, their underlying causes, and potential solutions to promote equity.
