A Blue Shield California Foundation survey found patients with more income are happier with their healthcare providers.
The survey recorded responses from 1,500 resident Californians. Of those with household incomes two or more times the federal poverty line, nearly 70 percent said the quality of care they had received was very good or excellent. For those with household incomes less than two times the federal poverty line, only about 50 percent said the same.
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The reason for this difference may be the quality of patient-provider relationships, according to the report. High-income patients were more likely to see the same provider with some consistency, while low-income patients were not. In addition, high-income patients were more likely to feel they had input in their care.
Other barriers to satisfaction among low-income patients recorded in the survey included a lack of comfort both with asking providers questions and with sharing outside information in a healthcare setting.
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