Essay on Health and Its Determinants: A Case Study

Medicine and other health services are expensive without these important conveniences that many people lack. These people have been “falling through the cracks” in U.S.

Health has been influenced by many factors such as poor health status, disease risk factors, and limited access to healthcare. All these factors are due to social, economic and environmental disadvantages. According to the World Organization (WHO) (2015), “the social determinants of health are mostly responsible for health inequities, which is the unfair and avoidable differences in health status seen within and between countries”

In today’s society, there is still a great struggle with health care disparities and many lives are affected by the lack of this fundamental program in our society. There are millions of people who die each year because they are unable to afford quality healthcare. The debate still continues about healthcare inequalities, what causes this disparity and who are affected by it. Health care is more of a necessity rather than a luxury and even though skeptics may argue to the latter, it only underlines the importance of the need for the wellbeing and care of individuals. There are several factors that could contribute to the lack of health care in the United States which ranges from but not limited to race, gender, socio- economic status, and lack of insurance coverage. The truth is there is a great disproportion between who can really afford quality healthcare as appose to individuals who have it. One would imagine that an employed individual would easily afford quality healthcare but we could be no further from the truth, since one’s economic status is an essential determinant to its affordability.

People have many desires, among then good health, but there is a lack of resources to provide all things to all people. Some people would consider resources when talking about health care economics; could include good health, education and access to financial means to afford health care costs or insurance premiums. In the presence of this scarcity, someone, or some process, must decide what mixture of goods and services to produce, what quantity of each is to be produced, and how to allocate the production to participate in the economy. Access and use of available resources can impact one health. “Individuals can undertake a variety of actions to achieve their desired level of health, which is constrained by physical factors and is subject to various risks. People’s choices about living location, work, and diet, recreation, over the counter medication, recreational drug use and formal health care can all affect their health status. Perhaps, startlingly, studies of factors that determine health in affluent societies indicate that changes in lifestyle choices and status such as environment, income, education, and cigarette consumption outweigh the contribution of changes in health care services.” (Answers.com, retrieved 4/6/09)

The social issue that I am addressing is that certain populations in the United States are not able to receive the treatment they need. This has a lot to do with accessibility and affordability. “…residents of metropolitan areas have better geographic access to physicians.” (Newhouse) We are seeing an uneven distribution of available physicians in rural and urban areas. There is an abundance of doctors in the urban areas, but they aren’t branching out to the rural areas. This is known as a paradox of the United States health system: “shortage amid surplus”. (COGME)

The patients and families were taken advantage of because they were poor and unable to afford proper healthcare. Participation in the study gave them access to medical treatment. Their poverty level and general lack of education contributed to their inability to gain knowledge beyond what was given to

Lack of access can impact a patient’s health status. When an individual does not have health insurance they are not able to have the care they need and are at risk for health problems. I think it is important for the government and stakeholders to provide access to the public. They are the ones that have the most impact on health

Social determinants of health incorporate early youngster improvement, globalization, health frameworks, estimation and confirmation, urbanization, occupation conditions, social avoidance, general health conditions, and ladies and sexual orientation balance (Folkman, 1993). Poverty gradient and severity As indicated by the World Health Organization, those in the most minimal financial conveyance of health, minimized and prohibited, and nations whose verifiable abuse and imbalance in worldwide establishments of force and strategy making, ensure the most exceedingly bad health outcomes. Supreme destitution is the severe hardship of fundamental human needs, for example, sustenance, safe drinking water and protect, and is utilized as a base standard underneath which nobody ought to fall paying little mind to where they live.

Numerous things can affect the health of an individual such as not being able to afford to visit a physician being able to pay for medications is a serious issue. If health care improved it could better the quality of life for a lot of individuals, especially the low socioeconomic status (SES) communities. Rationing health care services have continuously been practiced

When dealing with the health care system, the socioeconomic status of an individual can influence the quality of service they receive. The Health and Wealth theory shows that the amount of money someone has determines how well they are treated medically. Money gives individuals access to health care and for those who have very little amount of money or none at all are at risk of not receiving quality health care. In many instances, individuals with poor health are more likely to live in low end areas, have minimal education, and a low income (Hutchison, 2015). People who have a low income usually have more health problems than those with high incomes because they are exposed to hazardous environments and partake in unhealthy habits like smoking and not exercising (Hutchison, 2015). Affordable health care can be hard to come by. Having insurance can help give people access to health care, but the cost of health insurance can hinder some people from having it (Hutchison, 2015). Also, just because someone has health insurance does not mean they have automatic access to health care

I believe that the biggest determinant of health is stoical status. Sadly in the capitalists society we live in EVERYTHING revolves around money. Sure its NOT EVERYTHING, but it revolves around everything. Our textbook states "In the United States value tends to be placed on income, education, and occupation, which collectively form socioeconomic status".

Issues such as limited access to health care contribute significantly to health disparities (Health Policy Institute of Ohio 2004; Smedley, Stith, and Nelson 2003). Social determinants of health plays a crucial role in controlling the health outcomes of any population.

access to health and social are services, areas with low income households may have poor facilities than wealthier areas. Although the National Health Service provides free health care for everyone, there are Concerns that some groups of people may not receive the same quality of access to GP services and to preventative health services as

Worldwide, approximately 1.3 billion people do not have access to affordable and efficient healthcare and out of those who have access, almost 170 million are forced to spend around 40 % of their income on medical treatment (Asante et al,2016).In low and middle income countries (LMICs), the major constraint to the access of healthcare is financial burden, where out-of-pocket payments (OPP) contribute to approximately 50 % of total health expenditure (WHO, 2010). As a result, in these countries there is high probability of many households being pushed into poverty due to high medical expenses (McIntyre,2006).The matter of concern in LMICS is that poor and disadvantaged groups of population do not have access to adequate quality of healthcare.For instance, according to WHO (2010) up to 20 % of women in rich population are more likely to have a birth attended by skilled health worker than a poor woman. Therefore, taking an action to address health inequities faced in these countries would save up to 700,000 women.

Differences in access to health services affect individuals and society. Limited access to health care impacts people’s ability to reach their full potential, negatively affecting their quality of life. With this, people without health care with run across hurdles that including lack of availability, high cost of service and lack of insurance coverage. I learned that the lack of suitable coverage makes it difficult for people to get the health care they need and, when they do get care, burdens