Sick (and poor) in MA: Longer waits, less satisfied patients

In our poll, Sick in Massachusetts, we asked residents who said they had a serious illness, medical condition, injury or disability requiring a lot of medical care, or spent at least one night in the hospital within the last year about their experiences. We found that sick people with lower incomes (under $25,000) are significantly less likely than middle-income (from $25,000 to $74,999) and higher-income folks (over $75,000) to say they are very satisfied with their care. And more than one-fourth of the lower-income sick report that they were treated worse than others because of their insurance status, a significantly higher proportion than for middle-income (13%) and higher-income (2%) sick.