Does health care setting matter in reports of discrimination?

We investigated the associations between the health care setting types that California adults report as their regular source of care, socioeconomic status, and perceived racial/ethnic medical care-related discrimination. Data were analyzed from the 2005 California Health Interview Survey (n = 36,694). Adults who identified clinics/health centers/hospital clinics or "other settings" as their usual source of health care had increased odds for perceived racial/ethnic discrimination compared with those who utilized private and health maintenance organizations doctors' offices, although this was true only for middle, but not lower or higher, socio-economic respondents. We suggest several explanations for these findings and improvements for assessing health care-based racial discrimination.