This study attempted to determine the prevalence of perceived discrimination in health care, its association with use of preventive services, and the contribution of perceived discrimination to disparities in these services by race/ethnicity, gender, and insurance status. This is a cross-sectional study of 54,968 respondents to the 2001 California Health Interview Survey. Subjects were asked about experience with discrimination in receiving health care and use of six preventive health services, all within the previous 12 months.

Discrimination was reported by 4.7% of respondents, and among these respondents the most commonly reported reasons were related to type of insurance (27.6%), race or ethnicity (13.7%), and income (6.7%). Adjusting for perceived discrimination did not significantly change the relative likelihood of receipt of preventive care by race/ethnicity, gender, and insurance status.

Persons who report discrimination may be less likely to receive some preventive health services. However, perceived discrimination is unlikely to account for a large portion of observed disparities in receipt of preventive care.