Racial/Ethnic Differences in Those Accompanying Medicare Patients to the Doctor: Insights from the 2013 Medicare Current Beneficiary's Survey.

Surprisingly little current, population-level detail exists regarding companion accompaniment for health care among Medicare beneficiaries, particularly by race/ethnicity. For respondents in the 2013 Medicare Current Beneficiary's Survey Access to Care public use data (N = 12,253), multivariable models predicted accompaniment to the doctor by race/ethnicity, adjusting for confounders. Chi square analyses compared, by race/ethnicity, who was accompanying and why.

Importance of adult literacy in understanding health disparities.

Background: In several recent studies, the importance of education and race in explaining health-related disparities has diminished when literacy was considered. This relationship has not been tested in a nationally representative sample of U.S.