Economic Inequalities In Health Care

Healthcare is an ever growing concern around the world today. Populations continue to grow and people are living longer than ever. Nations have different systems for healthcare. The United States and Japan are two healthcare systems that are have different coverages for their citizens.

Despite enjoying excellent health and receiving comprehensive and universal healthcare access, Canada has seen continuing healthcare inequality especially among those people living at or below the poverty level and those who are members of the Aboriginal Peoples. The greatest impact of this disparity is evidenced through earlier mortality rates and greater incidences of injury and illness. Nowhere in Canada is this more true than among the Aboriginal Peoples, who, for example, have the highest rate or and risk for Type 2 Diabetes. This risk costs Canada an additional 18 billion dollars CAD every year (Strategic Initiatives and Innovations Directorate, 2011).

Disparities in health and health care in the United States have been a longstanding challenge resulting in some groups receiving less and lower quality health care than others and experiencing poorer health outcomes. Hispanics, Blacks, American Indians/Alaska Natives, and low-income individuals are more likely to be uninsured relative to Whites and those with higher incomes. Low-income individuals and people of color also face increased barriers to accessing care, receive poorer quality care, and experience worse health outcomes. The Department of Health and Human Services Disparities Action Plan (HHS) sets out a series of priorities, strategies, actions, and goals to achieve a vision of a nation free of disparities in health and health care.

Hospitals in the United States offer top quality care to its citizens but regrettably not everyone receives equal access to this care. There is an alarming difference between qualities of care received by some population groups relative to other population groups.

Studies show that "Hispanics are less likely to receive care and are more likely to receive inferior care" (Durden 2007:537-538) when compared to whites. Minority citizens in general are less likely to receive adequate health care, leading to a rise in disease among areas with high populations of minority citizens. You are not wrong to worry about the children that are affected by this as "Hispanic... children all display significantly lower odds of having access to a usual source of health care in comparison to non-Hispanic white children" (Durden 2007:539) even when taking current welfare programs aimed at providing health care to children, such as CHIP. It is important that we consider the effect of inequality in the health care system on

The comparison between macroeconomic issues shows that the disparate features of American and Japanese healthcare systems can be attributed to a long history of government, social, and cultural issues. However, Japan has universal health care at a lower cost compared to the United States and the rising costs of American healthcare system are inextricably connected to the particular delivery of healthcare system and financing. The culture and politics of the American society has resulted into a paradox where the country commits more financial resources to a healthcare system that leaves a considerable number of its people uninsured or underinsured.

The United Kingdom is one of the most technologically advanced and financially able countries in the European Union and the world. According to economic scale, the UK has the sixth largest economy (by GDP) in the world and the third ranked economy in the European Union (behind only Germany and France). However, the united kingdom has some of the largest healthcare inequalities in all of the EU. A recent study by the House of Commons Health Committee (2009) found that infant mortality was 2.9 times greater among unskilled workers as compared to professional workers. This gap is further magnified when it comes to access to healthcare for all age groups and evaluating based on certain types of chronic conditions which shorten one's lifespan (The Health Foundation, 2012). The fact that there are still inequalities that are this great in an advanced, industrial society are telling of the problems that exist within the national system. Since healthcare is supposed to be available to all, it would seem that questions such as access would have already been answered long ago. However, the national government has tried to fix it as a national problem, in the past, rather than as one which has many different local variables. This research paper will evaluate the current national policy, try to determine the inequality issues from a local standpoint, discuss why it will take the efforts of many different agencies to solve the problem, and look at

The aim of this essay is to explain and provide a sociological analysis of the underlying reasons for the differences in health that have been identified and provide explanations for the existence and persistence of these health inequalities. In the UK, health inequalities exist through a range of social and demographic indicators, which social class, gender and ethnicity. Health inequalities are indicated through mortality, morbidity and infant mortality rates.

Enjoyed reading your very informative post. . You mention that addressing health inequalities requires action at different levels of the public health system. I totally agree with you. According to Lillie-Blanton (2008), reducing health inequalities requires bold , new approaches that intervene at the system level as well as among individual patients and providers (Lillie-Blanton, 2008). You bring up a good point when you suggested that APN’s become competent in issues of health disparities. Not many APNs are competent in issues of health disparities, so I think that increasing awareness of social factors that are determinants of health status and health care disparities is imperative I think that increasing awareness regarding health

Medicine has a problem and it goes along with social inequality. As I write this blog I find myself in distraught at the thought that at this very moment an individual is fighting a treatable condition alone, without appropriate medical care. Some months ago I read an article published in The Guardian titled *"America's poorest border town: no immigration papers no American Dream."* In short, the article discusses the hardships endured by the residents of one of many small communities known as las colonias near the border town of McAllen, Texas. McAllen calls itself the Square Dance Capital of the World, the streets are adorned by majestic palm trees magnified in grace by the beautiful south Texas sunset, but just seven miles east from McAllen

You mentioned an interesting study for the World Health Organization. Unfortunately, the U.S healthcare system seems business and for-profit. In my opinion, people's health is not the appropriate realm to make money. I agree with you that the disparity in accessing to healthcare between rich and poor people is the major problem in the evaluation of the quality of healthcare.

Unfortunately, there is pricing leads to inequality because patients are not able to pay expensive prices for healthcare which they agree to receive treatments that cost less and less effective. As an example; my grandmother came to the U.S. for visiting during the time, her tooth hurts really bad, unfortunately she need it to have a crown but since she did not have insurance, the dentists said that her price to have the work done will be twice. I intent to apply her for medical insurance, but since she only had Visa immigration denied it. At the end, I ended up paying ($1,500) for her crown. If she had medical insurance would be ($500) only, and cheaper if she had remover her tooth. Medication was expensive too, but noting compare to the dentist.

In society, health inequities are inevitable inequalities in health between groups of individuals within countries and between countries (Morrison, 2014). Social and structural inequities shape health and illness; however, within and between societies, these inequalities and inequities are prevalent in more countries than others. Economic and social conditions and their effects on individual’s lives govern their risk of ailment and the actions taken to mitigate them becoming ill or treat sickness when it arises (Morrison, 2014).

Healthcare is one of the most critical and yet controversial issues for many Americans today. For many, it is all about access while for others the cost matters more than any other factor. An investigation of the healthcare systems across the world shows that they have differences in terms of policies and government contributions. Each country implements what they see as most beneficial to its citizens. Two countries with very different healthcare systems are the United States and Japan.

Health inequalities are those differences in health status or in the distribution of health determinants between different population groups (Health Impact Assessment, 2017). Factors such as culture, social and economy cause extensive inequalities in health. Majority of these health inequalities can have apparent consequences on the society as a whole and that includes example such as the spread of infectious illnesses (Woodward & Kawachi, 2000). Not every individual in Sierra Leone have the same life expectancy of 60 years for female and 55.6 years for male. Unfortunately, people of higher socioeconomic status tend to have enhanced health, access to quality health care, lesser mortality rates and higher life expectancy. Psychosocial factors such as depression and stress have different effect on an individual based on their social status. Unfortunately, these factors are mostly witnessed in the poor contribute to the negative health outcome of an individual and obviously lower life expectancy. Individuals of higher socioeconomic status in Sierra Leone tend to have better occupation, higher education and wealth. They are therefore are able to implement health behaviors such as physical activity that can potentially reduce their risk of mortality. On the other hand, people of lower socioeconomic status tend to mostly reside in the rural areas where there are little or no healthcare facility and therefore have