Hi Patterson,
I agree with your statement Patterson. It is left up to health care professionals to start the process of health equality. By advocating and getting involve with policy makers to make sure that all resources that are available for one community are also available for the minority communities. Everyone should have equal access to health care, and most importantly to preventive medicine. It has been proven that preventive medicine is less costly, and some of the insurance companies have been embracing this idea by given incentives to those who complete their yearly checkup.
According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (Kassandra, A., 2015), the issue of health disparities have impacted many people’s lives in the community where the minority groups do not have equal access to the quality health care. These
The system for health-care is a dual system which means that minorities in poorer places get less care than others around America which is a horrible thing, this is most definitely injustice. Quotes from the text to prove my statement correct is. “... and all those classified as poor in this country receive less than adequate treatment in facilites that are far outsripped by hospitals and clinics in wealthier neighborhoods.” pg. 135
The basis of this publication assesses the progress being made to health disparities, and the efficacy of efforts being made to address social determinants of those disparities. Furthermore, it also touches on the efforts being made to reduce health disparities on the federal, state, and local level.
This notion of social justice views “assurance of the essential condition” for the well-being of humans as the means of government (Gostin, 535). As well it dissuades the idea that individuals are or should pursue their own self interest, but moreso furthers the approach of redistributing “social and economic goods” equal to everyone (Gostin, 535). This connects to the right to health. The right to health is an inclusive right, contains individual freedoms, contains entitlements, the attainability of goods without any discrimination and that these goods are available, accessible, acceptable and of substantial quality (The Right to Health, 7). This being addressed by recognizing the health disparities that inhibit from the right to health and finding the means or solutions to overcome them. The African American Health coalition has dedicated their time and resources to ensure that individuals within their target population are receiving and being provided adequate care and their right to health is not compromised by health disparities. The specific issues that they are currently directing their efforts into are brownfields, lead paint, limited healthy food choices, violence and criminal activity, lower socioeconomic status, low education levels, high population turnover, unhealthy lifestyle choices, and poverty (Common Ground Health). These factors are the core issues of social
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.
Terminating the medical care inequalities gap is a problematic, multifaceted task. A study that surveyed 14 racial and ethnic minority subgroups determined that health inequalities could be constricted by providing minorities with better health care coverage, more adequate language skills and assistance, and higher incomes. However, the authors noted that other important factors such as biases, uncertainty in the provision of medical care, and stereotyping would also need to be covered. Ending the disparity gap is not only ethically and professionally imperative, it remains an obvious civil rights inequality that must be addressed. Since the 1990s, federal government, health insurers, and other stakeholders have taken an increased interest in addressing health care inequalities among Hispanics groups. For instance, the Healthy People 2010 initiative highlighted the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities as a prominent public health goal for the next
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
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.
Health disparities endure tenacious issues in the United States of America, setting certain groups at higher risk of being uninsured, limited access to care, facing a poorer quality of care, and overall negative health outcomes. The high incidence of health disparities reflects the range of individual, social, economic, racial/ethnic and environmental magnitudes. Among the minority groups, African-Americans disproportionately access health care and the health disparities clearly glow in the nationwide.
Health care is one thing that should be offered to all no matter what their ethnicity is.
Being a minority in the United States has and will possibly always been a struggle. With the economy being in shams and minimum wage becoming career, minorities have multiple issues that society is unaware especially in health care. A large percent of minorities are the majority of workers of America, in which requires the most of the health care distribution. But are they receiving the proper access to health care and prescription access based on their ethnicity/race? Discrimination and racism continue to be a part of the unbalancing inequality in society and have adversely affected minority populations, and the health care system in general. Analyzing some of the racial disparities in health care among Americans are modifications in both need and access. Minorities are most likely to need health care but are less likely to receive health care services, including proper drug access.
As humans, the right to medical care is something that should be seen as a privilege. No one should have to worry about if they are able to receive the healthcare that they require. Everyone has the right to receive the care that they should need. The only way to provide equal care for everyone in America is if healthcare were to be free. Though many countries around the world are able to provide free healthcare, this is something that is unfortunately not possible for all countries. There would be many issues that would arise if free healthcare were provided here in America. Due to the fact that quality care would be difficult to find, taxes would be increased, and much more, health care should not be free.
This writer believes that health care is a right, and therefore the government cannot discriminate who should and should not receive health care. As a matter of social justice and political obligation, the government should be responsible for making sure that every citizen of the country, regardless of their race, color and ethnicity, has access to affordable coverage and quality care. According the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (2007), everyone has the right to health, including health care. Good health is everything – it means a person is able to be a productive citizen and it increases quality of life while positively impacting the quality of life for the entire community. Thus the role of the government to achieve health for
The United States is a melting pot of cultural diversity. For a country that was founded by individuals fleeing persecution, it has taken us many years to grant African-Americans equal rights, and even longer for those rights to be recognized. Despite all the effort to eliminate inequality in this country, health disparity among this minority group remains a significant issue. Research in this area has pointed to several key reasons for this gap that center on differences in culture, socioeconomics, and lack of health literacy.
I also agree that the Health care system in the United States maintains and generates inequality and there is a huge gap between the social classes and especially race has an impact on the inequality of the system. “Health care disparities arise from complex interactions between patients, providers, institutions, and health systems that are difficult to unravel.” (King and Wheeler 815) Despite being the most expensive health care system in the world, the U.S. health care system fails to provide care to all our citizens and the care actually delivered is substandard. “Evidence suggests that discrimination in the clinical encounter defined by the Institute of Medicine as bias, prejudice, stereotyping, or miscommunication that undermines clinical