As physicians, we care for patients with acute and chronic diseases every day, doing whatever we can to help them achieve the best health outcomes possible and live long, productive lives. But as leaders of the two largest physician organizations dedicated to health advocacy for racial minority populations in the United States, we know that far too many of the patients our members treat will have less access to the care they need, and see poorer outcomes, than non-minorities.
We see these disparities across all conditions, but one of our greatest challenges is in helping patients in minority communities live with serious mental illness. One in six U.S. adults has an illness like depression, bipolar disorder, or anxiety disorder, but African Americans are 10 percent more likely, and Latinos 40 percent more likely, to experience serious psychological distress than non-Hispanic whites. And those minority populations are only half as likely to receive needed treatment or counseling as non-Hispanic whites. Statistics are even worse for American Indians and Alaska Natives.
