Access to care matters for health outcomes [5–7]. However, given similar access, people who belong to racially marginalized groups and those who are experiencing poverty are less likely to initiate care [8, 9]. Public hospitals, community health centers or clinics, and safety-net settings are defined by their shared vision to provide care to persons who need it regardless of their ability to pay [10]. As a result, these facilities are mostly used by people who are socio-economically disadvantaged—majority of whom belong to racial and ethnic minority groups, as well as undocumented persons and immigrants who might experience cost, cultural, language, and other barriers to care [11, 12]. One very challenging issue in health disparities research is understanding why in urban areas with safety-net clinics, the prevalence of people with unmet need for health care is still high [13–15]. Mistrust in medical institutions is one cause of unmet need [16, 17].