Health Care Disparities

Barriers to healthcare include factors that restrict or hinder people from receiving adequate and quality health care service. Health care disparities are those differences that negatively affects less advantaged group (Mehta, 2014). Health care barriers play a significant role in comprehending causes of disparities. This paper will discuss the obstacles and disparities that exist and affects healthcare.

Race/ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic position are social determinants that lead to disparities in healthcare. Despite declining death rates, African Americans have consistently had higher mortality rates than Whites. For example, breast cancer is more prevalent in whites however the incidence of mortality from breast cancer is higher in black women. Black women are also likely to have more advanced cancer at the time of diagnosis than their White peers. Williams (2002) proposes that racial categories are more alike than different in terms of biological characteristics and genetics. Furthermore, they do not capture patterns of genetic variation. Thus, it is not biologically reasonable for genetic differences alone to play a major role

The disparities in healthcare amongst minorities, elderly, and the poor are mind blowing, but in order to help reduce disparities, there needs to be an awareness and accurate data available to assess and implement a plan to bring better quality healthcare to communities.

I enjoyed reading your DQ 1 post this week, and it looks like we both stumbled across the same website article about disparities. It was an interesting article to read, and it provided useful information to understand health care disparities better. The health care disparity examples you provided, and your example of how to address these issues would benefit those individuals that live in rural areas. One issue that might arise from developing more resources in rural areas is that you would have to find funding to open, staff, and continually provide more resources in that area. However, missed diagnoses and poorly managed care leads to health care disparities and higher medical costs ( ). Providing more

Governmental agencies influence health policies by influencing the Federal government, State government, and local laws by using population health research studies and interventions studies reported of health disparities. In addition to being well informed with health disparities they have access to investing, research and collecting evidence in assisting them to gather information that can influence health care polices. With each research that is conducted can possibly create new or old policies to be improved and aimed to reduce health disparities.

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.

There are vulnerable groups that have significant problems in the health care system, due to this population being made vulnerable because of their financial circumstances or place of residence, health, age, race, mental or physical state. Access to health care across different populations are the main reason for current disparities in the United States health care system. Moreover, with a large amount attention being given to racial disparities in health, the meaning of race has come under increased scientific examination. (Sondik, 1997) Consequently, race remains to be one of the most politically charged topics in American life, because it's linked to sociocultural element often has led to classifications that have been ambiguous and improperly

It is important that laws be enacted that help the impoverished, the unemployed, and the uninsured, and those who have limited income and resources. There are many laws, policies, and programs enacted to eliminate health disparities faced by people in regards to age, race, religion, disabilities, and economic status. This discussion post will explore the federal and state programs of Medicare and Medicaid respectively and how it helps and is improving the delivery of culturally competent care to the groups of people within our nation.

The United States is faced with multiple health disparities within the country that encompass many challenges for individuals when it comes to the fairness and access to health care. A health disparity is defined as the inconsistency of treatment between two different groups of individuals. Treatment that could be different could be seen as different care due to age, race, ethnicity, culture, or current socioeconomic status (Koh et al., 2012). Treatment may be harmful for individuals as a result of miscommunication that may be perceived the wrong way. Individuals with low health literacy do not understand the purpose of particular drugs or the name of one’s condition, which can further leave an individual vulnerable to harm. Individuals may sign consent they do not fully understand, and will receive unwanted care and procedures (Clark, 2011). Healthcare providers need to be aware of an individual’s level of understanding before harming the individual with irreversible procedures.

Healthcare disparities within racial minority groups are an ongoing issue in the United States. Factors that affect these disparities are overall quality of care, access to healthcare, and access to insurance. Numerous efforts have been made to decrease the access and quality of care for minorities. The current intervention being used is the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This act was initiated by President Obama in 2010 and has had much controversy in the past years. The main arguments are the ACA increasing the taxes for Americans and the fact that all Americans must obtain insurance if proper funds are available. In 2014 the ACA Medicaid expanded and each state had the opportunity to expand if the state believed it appropriate. Out of the 50

In the current U.S. system the free market prevails and companies, in this case, major insurance providers “compete” for business. This competitive business approach should in theory drive costs down. For some reason, however, an argument can be made that it has produced the opposite result in profiteering. The nation’s largest insurer, UnitedHealth, boasted over a 10 percent revenue increase in 2013 according to Forbes (2013). Health insurance affordability contributes to the disparity in access to health care, as evidenced by the fact that there are millions that are still uncovered. A greater majority of certain minorities lack both health insurance and the financial resource to seek out either health care or insurance. While insurance companies reap huge profits the percent of private sector companies offering health insurance has dropped to less than 50 percent (Kaiser, 2013). There is decidedly a lack of coordination of care for this at risk population as well, since treatment is rendered sporadically and with continuously changing providers. The last major challenge is that of improving the quality of health care. According to a 2010 report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (OIG), an estimated 13.5 percent of Medicare beneficiaries experienced adverse events during their hospital stay and an additional 13.5 percent experienced a temporary

Americans seek healthcare to prevent, diagnose and treat most diseases. However many Americans do not get the coverage or practices that are guaranteed by the doctors oath. Insurance plays a major role on the type of care a person receives. It can also effect the type of medications prescribed by a doctor. The type of care can depend on if the individual seeking care has insurance or if they go to the community clinic for free healthcare.

The rising healthcare cost is an issue that affects many working class Americans. Experts have tried to come up with different ways to make health care more affordable and easily accessible to all. Despite all the efforts and even after the Affordable Care Act, there are still millions of Americans without health insurance coverage and therefore unable to access the necessary medical care. According to a 2015 report by the U.S Census Bureau, there are over 33 million uninsured Americans. (“Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2014 - p60-253.pdf,” n.d.) The Affordable Care Act has unquestionably made healthcare more accessible and reduced the number of uninsured Americans. However, there are still millions of

The availability of healthcare is an extremely important issue in the United States. There are millions of Americans that are uninsured in the U.S. A high amount of uninsured people are from minority groups such as Hispanics and African-Americans. High deductible payments, the cost of prescription drugs, and lack of health insurance coverage cause many Americans to choose to live without insurance to save money for everyday expenses beside healthcare. Without health insurance, people do not have access to quality healthcare. Most citizens are aware of the issues in the healthcare system, but the disagreement comes when discussing how the best approach on ameliorating the system. Some believe that a more public and universal healthcare system is the best approach. Others believe that America works best through free enterprise and private institutions, and believe health insurance should be more privatized. However, health care has been shown to work best and be more available through proper public government control as it will allow for all Americans to have access to equal healthcare, in which money does not dictate health.

This year being an election year means that the American people are confronted with many issues and disparities that plague our nation. One of these hot button topics is that of healthcare. The United States is the only developed nation without a universal healthcare system, but spends the most for health services. With so many Americans lacking the adequate care needed or facing bankruptcy due to piling medical bills, one must look at the health disparities that are causing this super power nation to inadequately serve its citizens.