A Closer Look at Negative Interactions Experienced by Women in Health Settings: Findings from the 2024 KFF Women’s Health Survey
Women’s health outcomes are shaped not only by access to care, health insurance, and affordability, but also by the social and economic factors that drive health, discrimination, and experiences within the health care system. When people feel discriminated against or are treated disrespectfully in healthcare settings, they are more likely to avoid medical care, which can lead to worse health outcomes, especially among more at-risk populations.
This data note presents findings from the 2024 KFF Women’s Health Survey on women’s experiences with disrespectful and unfair treatment as well as negative interactions with providers during health care visits in the past two years. The 2024 KFF Women’s Health Survey was fielded from May 15 to June 18, 2024, and was developed and analyzed by KFF staff. It is a nationally representative survey of 5,055 women and 1,191 men ages 18 to 64. See the methodology for detailed definitions, sampling design, and margins of sampling error.
Disrespectful or Unfair Treatment
The majority of women (95%) and men (87%) ages 18 to 64 report having seen a health care provider, either in-person or via telehealth over the past two years (Appendix Figure 1). However, among those who have seen a provider, nearly one in four women ages 18 to 64 (23%) report that a doctor, health provider, or other staff has treated them unfairly or with disrespect in the past two years, a rate that is somewhat higher than the share reported by men (18%) (Figure 1). For both men and women, weight is the most common reason identified as to why they were treated unfairly or with disrespect. Overall, one in seven (15%) women say that they were treated unfairly or with disrespect because of their weight, and one in 10 (9%) identified their age and/or gender as the reason why they were treated poorly. Seven percent of women report they were treated unfairly or with disrespect because of their race.
Overall, somewhat larger shares of Black (26%) and Hispanic (25%) women report that they have been treated unfairly or with disrespect by a doctor, health provider, or other staff in the past 2 years compared to White women (21%) (Figure 2). One in five Black women (19%) report that they have been treated unfairly or with disrespect because of their race. One in 10 (9%) Hispanic women and 7% of Asian or Pacific Islander women also identify their race as the reason why they were treated poorly by a health provider while only 2% of White women identify their race as the reason. Larger shares of Black and Hispanic women report that their accent or ability to speak English was the reason they were treated unfairly or with disrespect compared to White women.
Women of reproductive age (18 to 49), women with lower incomes, LGBT+ women, and women who identify as disabled are more likely to report that they have been treated unfairly or with disrespect compared to women 50 to 64, women with higher incomes, non-LGBT+ women and women who do not identify as disabled. Among women who identify as disabled one in five women (19%) say they were treated poorly due to a disability they have.
Across the majority of subgroups, weight is the most common reason identified by women about why they were treated unfairly or with disrespect. Weight stigma and discrimination can reduce the quality of care patients receive and patient satisfaction. It can also lead to an increase in stress for a patient and affect their short- and long-term health outcomes. Similar shares of White (15%), Hispanic (15%), and Black (13%) women identify their weight as the reason why they were treated poorly by a health provider in the past two years, while only 8% of Asian or Pacific Islander women say the same. Twice as many LGBT+ women (26%) women and women who identify as disabled (24%) compared to non-LGBT+ women (13%) and women who do not identify as disabled (13%) say that weight was the reason they were treated unfairly or with disrespect by a health care provider.
Negative Health Care Experiences
One in three women (34%) who have seen a provider in the past two years report having at least one of several negative experiences (Figure 3). One in five women (20%) said a health provider has ignored a direct request they made or question they asked, and another one in five (19%) report that a provider has assumed something about them without asking. Nearly one in five women say that a provider didn’t believe they were telling the truth, and one in seven (13%) say their provider suggested they were personally to blame for a health problem they were experiencing. One in 10 women say their provider has refused to prescribe them pain medication they thought they needed.
Significantly larger shares of LGBT+ women and women who identify as disabled have had a negative experience with a health care provider in the past two years (Figure 4). About half of LGBT+ women (51%) and women with disabilities (47%) report having had a negative experience with a health provider in the past two years. Across all five of the negative experiences asked about on the survey, larger shares of LGBT+ women and women who identify as disabled say they have experienced each compared to non-LGBT+ women and women who do not identify as disabled. Prior KFF research has found that LGBT+ adults are more likely than non-LGBT+ adults to report adverse consequences because of negative interactions with health providers and are more likely to take steps to mitigate or prepare for unfair treatment when receiving care.
Similarly, larger shares of women with lower incomes report having had a negative experience with a health provider in the past two years compared to women with higher incomes.
