Date of Award

5-2022

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Honors Thesis

Department

Sociology

First Advisor

Dr. Krista Cline

Abstract

Systemic racism is affecting all sorts of systems in America, specifically the healthcare system. When it comes to racial implicit bias in healthcare, it could involve race, gender, weight, education, and more. Depending on how qualities of patients affect the physician subconsciously, this could affect the quality of care a patient receives. An understudied area of bias in the healthcare system involves how a patient’s race and health insurance affects physician implicit bias. In this study, we examined whether a patient’s race would influence whether the physician thought the patient would pay with either private insurance or Medicaid. We found that physicians were more likely to expect Black patients to pay with Medicaid, or government-assisted insurance, than white patients.

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