Healthcare Care Access Disparities in Appalachia

The purpose of this paper is to provide insight on health disparities seen within DeKalb County. The residents of DeKalb County are diverse in race, ethnicity, and income. Since the county is so diverse there are many health disparities seen amongst its residents. Health disparities occur within a county when one group of a population has noticeably better or worse health than another group within the same population. These groups of people can differ by income, education, sex, race, location, and even sexual orientation. This Paper will discuss the health disparities that exist within DeKalb County, and explain why these disparities exist from a historical, political and social aspect. Furthermore, this paper will give background information on health outcomes from national, state, and local epidemiological perspective in order to support the claims that disparities actually exist within this county.

Appalachian Poverty Poverty is a global problem, and it has existed from the beginning of civilization. Hunger, homelessness, and lack of health care are major aspects of this world-wide dilemma. Many countries are in complete poverty and a majority are third-world countries. Within the United States of America, a land of plenty, there are also pockets of extreme poverty. Governments around the world are trying to solve this huge problem.

Amongst the other industrialized countries of the world, the United States has the worst healthcare system (Davis, Stremikis, Squires, & Schoen, 2014). This ranking does not come from a lack of funds, considering the United States spends more than twice as much per capita than the United Kingdom which is ranked at number one (Davis, Stremikis, Squires, & Schoen, 2014). A major problem is America is the health disparities that vary across the nation. Health disparities “refer to differences in access to or availability of facilities and services. Health status disparities refer to the variation in rates of disease occurrence and disabilities between socioeconomic and/or geographically defined population groups”("Health Care Disparities", 2009). Even though one RAND study suggests that virtually every demographic is at risk of not receiving needed care, there are definitely certain populations that are at higher risk of falling victim to these disparities ("National healthcare quality and disparities report 2014", 2015). A majority of Maine’s population falls into one of these riskier demographics, which is and will continue to affect the health and quality of life for Mainers if not addressed.

Americans living in rural areas have found out that getting access to quality health care is not only hard to obtain but very expensive. People who live in rural areas have the highest rates diseases that are chronic, poverty is higher, an having no insurance, and there are limitations to having access to primary care physicians to millions of rural Americans. Since the economy is going through a downturn, this has the potential to cause a rise in a number of access and health issues that are already causing problems in communities in rural areas.(HealthReform.Gov., 2012). This is where the new health care tax or the Patient Protection and Affordable Act of 2010 will play one of its greatest roles which is its main goal which is to allow coverage to all residents of the United States and thereby improving the delivery of needed health care to rural parts of America. (Becker & Dunn, 2012).

Increased income inequality is shown to increase the poverty rate. This is shown as more income moves apart from lower income brackets to upper income brackets. The Economic Policy Institute estimated that increased income inequality has increased 5.5 percent in from the year 1979 to 2007. This increase in poverty is reflected directly from income inequality as the bottom laborers in a business are working harder and gaining less, as the top workers, the CEO’s, and other executives are spending less time working, and more time counting their money. Income deprivation has been the largest driver of change in poverty rate, much above other factors such as economic growth, education, and race.

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.

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 different or delivered in different ways between literacy component individuals and illiterate individuals and be viewed as unequal care. Healthcare facilities must be cautious when providing care and be cautious of the health disparities that exist in order to provide equal and

The United States is plagued with stark health disparities across its communities (Institute of Medicine, 2013). Defined as the “variation in rates of disease occurrence and disabilities between socioeconomic and/or geographically defined population groups,” disparities describe the inequality of access to basic health services in America (HSRIC, 2016). Over the past decade, health reform has attempted to address this issue of health inequality by strategizing to insure more people and provide increased access to care.

Medical advance and improved technology providing all Americans more healthier and long lives more than ever before .In contrast racial and ethnic minorities experience significant number of health disparities .The major factors of these minority group health disparities are income, education, and work status, as well as poor housing,

The difference in health outcomes and the determinants between parts of a population caused by social, demographic, environmental and geographic characteristics is defined as health disparities (Dore & Eisenhardt,2015). Societal, economic, and political forces impact social determinants. (Dore & Eisenhardt, 2015) have indicated that health inequities are avoidable and preventable when appropriate actions are taken to lower the risk of illness.

Often the term “disparities” is related to a specific racial or ethnic group of people, many variations of disparities exist in America, mainly in regards to health. If any outcome from health disparities can be ascertained is populations and regions in America.

Many factors contribute to differing racial and ethnic health needs, including culture norms, religious mandates, and health disparities. The health disparities refers to specific differences in disease incidence, health outcomes, quality of health care and access to health care services that exist across racial and ethnic groups (Mandal, 2014). Disparities may result from inadequate access to care, poor quality of care, cultural issues and social determinants.

This paper will cover on the changes in the poverty rate from 1959-2013 and also the wages that you need to be over to not be consider poor. Shown in the chart above is the poverty rate from 1959-2013. As it is shown in the chart over the past 54 the poverty rate has significantly has gone down. It has gone down because education in the world has gotten about one hundred percent better than what it was back then. In the years 1970, 1974, and 1980’s the poverty rate spikes back up a little bit. The rate spikes because during those years our country went through a recession. A recession is a period of economic decline in which trade and industrial activity are reduced. This usually happens when there is a fall in GDP. The most recent recession happened in 2008, where we saw a decline in the real-estate business that the country still has not fully recovered from. During a recession the poverty rate would be higher because less people have jobs so they are not making an income like they used

Rural Americans face an exclusive combination of issues that create disparities in health care that are not found in urban areas. Many complications met by healthcare providers and patients in rural arears are massively different than those located in urban areas. Financial factors, cultural and social variances, educational deficiencies, lack of acknowledgement by delegates and the absolute isolation of living in remote rural areas all combined to hinder rural Americans in their struggle to lead a normal, healthy life. Rural hospitals located in rural areas faces many disadvantages, such as; minimum resources, shortcoming or unprepared professionals, and financial disparities. Although many of these challenges could be solved

Changes in access to health care across different populations are the chief reason for current disparities in health care provision. These changes occur for several reasons, and some of the main factors that contribute to the problem in the United States are: Lack of health insurance – Several racial, ethnic, socioeconomic and other minority groups lack adequate health insurance coverage in comparison with people who can afford healthcare insurance. The majority of these individuals are likely to put off health care or go without the necessary healthcare and medication that is needed. Lack of financial resources – Lack of accessibility to funding is a barrier to health care for a lot of people living in the United States