Language Barriers in Health Care: Findings from the KFF Survey on Racism, Discrimination, and Health
Findings
The KFF Survey on Racism, Discrimination, and Health was conducted in English plus four additional languages: Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean. While it is not comprehensive of all adults with LEP, these languages make up about three fourths of the LEP population in the U.S. The survey results may somewhat overrepresent Spanish speakers, who make up 62% of the overall U.S. LEP population but 82% of respondents with LEP from the survey.
In this report Adults with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) are adults who responded the survey in a language other than English and self-identified as speaking English less than “very well.” English-proficient adults are those who responded the survey in English or responded in another language and self-identified as speaking English “very well.”