Reports of Inequality in Healthcare
The majority of people had not been discriminated against personally. Out of the categories offered, age discrimination was reported the most as shown in Figure 6, with gender discrimination second.
Gender Inequality
The survey questions relating to gender inequality allowed respondents to select more than one answer. Figure 7 shows the proportion of individuals who report no experience or witness of gender inequality was approximately equal between the genders. Figure 7 also shows the women reported more instances of gender inequality in proportion to men. This showed that those who experience gender inequality; do so in more than one area of their life.
Income Inequality
In Figure 8 we noticed a trend where the proportion of people without health insurance was higher in the low income brackets. In regards to income inequality; Figure 9 displays one of the resulting disparities. On average, those with low income had seen a doctor less recently than their higher income counterparts.
Racial Inequality
Our survey responses were from mostly white or Caucasian people and as mentioned in Figure 6; no one reported personal experiences of inequality based on race. We did have 13 respondents out of 30 who reported witnessing racial inequality in healthcare Figure 10 and more men denied witnessing or experiencing racial inequality. Figure 11 shows how in relation to race and ethnicity, White/Caucasian and Black/African-American individuals witness racial inequality equally. Surprisingly; none of the three Hispanic/Latino individuals in our survey report witnessing racial inequality.
LGBTQ+ Inequality
The majority of our respondents denied witnessing or experiencing inequality related to sexual orientation. Figure 12 shows that thirty percent had witnessed or experienced inequality as a result of a person's sexual orientation. Those that answered yes are marked in red on Figure 12. Those yes answers were divided into groups where the varying shades of red indicate the respondents' sexual orientation. When analyzing this data with the sexual orientation percentages in Figure 4 of the previous page, we see that ten out of the thirteen percent of bisexuals experienced or witnessed maltreatment regarding sexual orientation. The same was true for three out of the ten percent of lesbians. Proportionately, those who identified as part of the LGBT+ community experienced or witnessed inequality based on sexual orientation at a higher rate than those that identified as heterosexual.
Personal Stories
Our respondents gave personal stories that showed their experiences in inequality in healthcare. Several of these stories illustrated the various sub-topics of inequality in healthcare. Speaking on the gender bias; one respondent wrote “As an ER RN, I was hired at a lower pay rate than a male RN with the same degree and same amount of experience. I’ve been sexually harassed by patients, staff, and EMS personnel.” We had a respondent experience inequality due to gender identity, where they “had a post surgical complication misdiagnosed in the ER, after gender confirmation surgery (FTM) because the doctor didn't feel comfortable doing a proper exam.”