Health Disparities In Health Care In Birmingham, Alabama

The health of a nation plays an integral part in the overall success and economic well being of a particular country. The United Stated, while pouring more money into the healthcare system than any other country, still stands as a broken system with inadequate care for many citizens. One of the most marginalized groups of people, African American women, continually score alarmingly low on basic measures of overall health. The healthcare discrepancies between white and black women in the United States are alarming, and they reveal flaws in the American health care system as a whole.

Barriers in health care can lead to disparities in meeting health needs and receiving appropriate care, including preventive services and the prevention of unnecessary hospitalizations (HealthyPeople.gov, 2012). In their 2008 annual report, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality lists several disparities’ in health care. They report that racial and ethnic minorities in the United States

Disparities In Care: Case Study 1 Southern Regional Health System try to provide health care to an diverse population in Jackson, Mississippi. Their mission is to provide “excellent quality care for all” and provide care that doesn’t discriminate or is “color blind” (Olden, 2015, pg. 328). One of the central ideas of this establishment is to make the established health care services efficient without disparate. “Understanding the demographic and socioeconomic composition of U.S. racial and ethnic groups is important because these characteristics are associated with health risk factors, disease prevalence, and access to care, which in turn drive health care utilization and expenditures” (National Center for Health Statistics, 2015). Health care disparities include, but not limited

In 1964 Congress passed the Civil Rights Act in which Title VI specifically forbade the distribution of federal funds to organizations that practiced discrimination. Enforcement of Title VI was a major priority within the Johnson administration as they implemented the Medicare program (Reynolds, 1997). Despite a mandate of equal treatment, significant patterns of segregated health care utilization have remained to the present. In an analysis of Medicare beneficiaries, Bach and colleagues found that their was a small proportion of physicians – 22% - who provided the majority of visits - 80% - by black patients (Bach, Pham, Schrag, Tate, & Hargraves, 2004). This may represent a pattern of racial concordance, patients choosing providers of their own race, but the physicians seeing the majority of black patients did not the same resources available as those seeing the majority of white patients. Compared with physicians seeing the mostly white patients, physicians seeing mostly black patients were 33% less likely to report always having access to high quality specialists, and 40% less likely to report always having access to high quality diagnostic imaging. In short, black patients are using a different health system than white patients on average and the health system black patients are using has fewer resources (Bach, et al., 2004).

With this increased research and effort, Americans would be able to intervene and make positive impacts with the state, tribal, and local levels to best address health disparities and inequalities. In efforts to thwart ethnic and minority disparities, The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) passed the HHS Disparities Action Plan in order to establish “a nation free of disparities in health and health care, (Cooper 97)” and to implement a series of priorities, strategies, actions, and goals to achieve this vision. States, local communities, private organizations, and providers have additionally engaged in efforts to reduce health disparities. With the HHS Disparities Action Plan, the Department continuously assess policies and programs on racial and ethnic health disparities, watching to see which policies make an impact on the level of health care received by minorities. Similarly, The Affordable Care Act (ACA) health coverage expansions significantly increase coverage options for low and moderate income populations and particularly benefit the “vulnerable populations.” The ACA also includes provisions to strengthen the safety-net delivery system, improve

Racial classification has a possibility to expose an individual to racism and health disparities by influencing access to care, scope and quality of care, and overall health outcomes. In the United States of America, the secret codes of socioeconomic status are deeply spotted by race, causing the racial differences in socioeconomic status and becomes the main element to racial differences in health and health care (Kennedy, 2013). Many studies have indicated that African-Americans distrust medical practices and medical professionals due to a long history tied to the unethical treatment

The disparities are around us every day and unless we educate ourselves and our communities these disparities will continue to wreak havoc on our neighborhoods and in the future, we will just be putting our kids and their kids in a continuing cycle of ignorance when we could have done more if it’s just educating the community we leave in, that alone could be enough to turn the tides in our people favor. In turn, I would hope this paper enlighten you on what is going on in our neighborhood and what we can do to correct this issue to preserve our autonomy. Racial and ethnic health disparities undermine what a healthcare system should stand for. Although the top three causes and seven of the 10 leading causes of death are the same for African Americans and whites, the risk factors and incidence, morbidity, and mortality rates for these diseases and injuries often are greater among blacks than whites (MMWR, 2005). Health disparities refer to differences in disease risks, incidence, morbidity, and mortality but most of all for the sake of this paper unequal access to quality health insurance amongst African American in the United States, which will also go hand and hand with the social and economic disadvantages. The disadvantages of health disparities usually affect people of African American descent who have systemically experienced a greater social and economic obstacle to health care.

The purpose of this paper is to exemplify the healthcare crisis of African Americans within the broader context of American healthcare reform. In order for one to appreciate the depth of necessity for healthcare reform in the African American community, he or she must have a general understanding of the history of healthcare for African Americans. As stated by the institute of medicine in a study assessing the health and mental health disparities of African Americans, “The sources of these disparities are complex, are rooted in historic and contemporary inequities, and involve many participants at several levels, including health systems, their administrative and bureaucratic processes, utilization managers, healthcare professionals, and

In looking on the subject of race you realize there is a racial stigma when it comes to health care. The American health care system is geared to treat the majority, while the minority suffers. As one looks at the African American society we see the racial discrimination in the health care system. According to the American heart association, “African Americans are 28% more likely

Health disparities are present in our health care system. Whether it be racial, educational, or environmental, these disparities exist and are detrimental to health care outcomes. While there have been recent advancements in how to eliminate or reduce these disparities, there is still a major inequity in health care for all individuals.

Health disparities among African-Americans is a continuing problem that has been seen over many years. African-Americans have higher poverty rates, have lower rates of insurance coverage, and are more likely to be covered by Medicaid, than the White population (Copeland, 2005). This lack of insurance has led many of these individuals, to not seek treatment for illness, due to problem accessing health care (Kennedy, 2013). This leaves African-Americans with little to no treatment, which causes an increase of medical care that will be needed further on in their life or a sooner than expected death, caused by illness (Copeland, 2005).

Healthcare disparities have been an issue all over the world for a very long time. The purpose of this paper is to give you knowledge on disparities within the health care environment. This paper will discuss the definition of disparities, types of disparities, reasons for disparities, statistical data from trends and reports, and information on disparities elimination and improvements.

With such glaring evidence on structural racism within the medical field, it is not surprising that people of color face disparities.

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.

It is probably the worst kept secret in the United States that minorities living in low income areas have the worst access to health care in the developed nation. Oftentimes they have to choose between going to the doctor to get treatment that could potentially save their lives or risk putting their families in millions of dollars’ worth of debt. Crooked CEOS jack up the prices of insulin, EpiPen’s, and a host of other lifesaving medications just to make an extra dollar. Research on Black Americans is typically underfunded, not to mention the underlying mistrust that people of color in low income communities can occasionally exhibit to doctors, police officers, etc. It is hard to trust someone in a position of authority when historically they have oppressed and hurt your people. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, a study where black men were used as laboratory experiments to examine the effects of syphilis, is proof enough. Therefore, I propose a 3-step plan to help people livening in these situations.