Population Research Paper

“At age 65, white men in the highest-income families can expect to live 3.1 years longer than white men in the lowest-income families” (Tischler 383). Life expectancies varies among racial groups due to different leading causes of death in each race and the different incomes available to a group. According to several studies, African Americans are at a greater risk of dying from heart disease than whites, while whites are at a greater risk than Asians, Latinos, and Native Americans. Large racial and ethnic disparities exist in health due to poverty rates, diet, biological differences, and location. On a greater scale, minority groups tend to have less of an income than whites, which affect the type of medical care available for them. Also, dietary habits varies among racial groups. The African American culture consists of generally fattening food dating to centuries ago and is still persistent today. A Latino diet consists of beans, grains, and other less fattening foods. However, currently many of these racial groups begin to adapt to American diets that worsen their

. Addressing health inequalities and health care is not only important from the point of view of social justice, but also to improving the health of all Americans by improving the quality of care and health of their children. People. Moreover, the difference in health is expensive. An analysis estimates that about 30% of total direct medical expenses for blacks, Hispanics and Asians are excessive costs due to inequalities in health. The difference also leads to economic losses due to indirect costs related to loss of productivity and premature mortality. (Artiga,

Healthy People 2020 discusses a number of special population’s that have barriers to care including; race, age sex, sexual identity, age, disability, socioeconomic, and location; this post will discuss race (ethnic) group.  There are a number of races mentioned in healthy people 2020, such as, Asian, American Indian, Alaskan, Latino and African American (Healthy People 2020, n.d.). Access to health care in an ethnic group is multifaceted from the lack of trust, lack of health care education, discrimination and cost of care including health insurance. According to Howard, Peace, & Howard (2014), African Americans have a greater risk of three preventable diseases, hypertension, renal failure and bacterial infections stating; “no other disease

Although the overall health of the United States population has improved, large disparities in terms of health outcome and access to healthcare exist between wealthier Americans and their “poorer counterparts primarily because of differences in education, behavior, and environment.” (Longest, 2015, p8). Access to health care and other services is associated with wealth, employment, education and power. Higher education, which translates to higher income, allows people to buy healthier food, live in safer, cleaner neighborhood and access the best healthcare possible. Power on the other hand permits people to secure health for themselves and their families, while others without power have limited or no access to the resources they need to be

Throughout history, many conflicts have arisen from the differences between races and ethnicities. These conflicts have resulted from one population, historically the white American population, wanting more power over another population, more often the African American population. From these power struggles, racism and discrimination developed and were even more strengthened from the development of slavery in the US and further on with segregation in the 1900s. From slavery, segregation, and racism, health disparities developed in the African American population that have continued to this day. African Americans generally have a shorter life expectancy than whites, but a recent discovery, entitled the minority crossover, has changed the understanding of health disparities in elderly populations. The minority crossover phenomenon refers to the growing elderly African American population and increase in life expectancy of this group over white Americans.

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,

First, there is Jim Taylor, Hospital CEO, District 16; second, Tondra Young, Clinical Lab Supervisor, District 24; lastly, Corey Anderson, Floor Technician, District 21. The population of each district decreases in average income, education level and life expectancy than its preceding district, beginning with district 16, Jim Taylor’s district. District 16 has an average combined household income of approximately $120,000/ annually. In this district, 65% of the population has a college degree and the life expectancy in this district is 82 years. Whereas, Tondra Young’s district, district 24, has an average combined household income of $70,000/annually and 15% of the population has a college degree. The life expectancy of district 24 is 75 years, that’s 7 years less than district 16. In district 21, Corey Anderson’s district, the average combined household income is less than $50,000/ annually and only 5% of the districts population have college degrees. Consequently, the life expectancy of district 21 is 70 years, 5 years less than district 24 and 12 years less than district 16 (Adelman 2008). The results of this study are indisputable: there is an obvious correlation between social/economic status and health status. As each districts average income and education level decrease, average life expectancy coincides. This leads to the next question: why does social and economic status so greatly influence health status?

“Health disparity: A higher burden of illness, injury, disability, or mortality experienced by one population group relative to another group” ("Disparities in Health," 2012, para. 7). There are many factors which contribute to the disparities in health among certain groups here in the United States. The low income populations seem to be at the greatest risk when it comes to health inequality. Whether this is due to lack of education, access to services, or even neighborhood safety, the divide between the higher income populations and that of lower income populations are growing at an alarming

The United States’ whole social structure and system of relations developed based on race, and this prejudice has stuck around to this day, specifically in the U.S.’s healthcare system. It has been found that minority groups often receive less and lower quality treatments than those who are white. On a national scale, ethnic health disparities have become more of a priority in recent decades. Specifically since The Office of Minority Health was established in 1986, and more recently, since “Healthy People”, a popular magazine, named the elimination of these disparities as one of its national goals to accomplish by 2010 (Yang). This paper will explore some of the possible solutions to this extreme gap in health.

In the next article “The costs of inequality: money = quality health care = longer life” by Alvin Powell, the writes discusses health in equality in the United States with an emphasis on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) program. With time “life expectancy is increasing for African-Americans and the poor, albeit at a lower rate than for wealthy people” (Powell 2016, pg.2). Powell along with Ichiro Kawachi, a professor at Harvard Chan School, argues that African Americans are the group most affected with poor health in the United States. “African-American individuals and those in other minority groups receive fewer procedures and poorer-quality medical care than white individuals,” (Powell 2016, pg.2) said David Williams, also a professor at Harvard Chan University. The ACA passed in Congress in 2010 and since

These terms are relevant for improving the health of all Americans by achieving improvements in overall quality of care and population health. Moreover, health disparities are costly, resulting in added health care costs, lost work productivity, and premature death (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2012). According to a recent analysis 30 percent of direct medical costs for Blacks, Hispanics, and Asian Americans are excess costs due to health inequities) and that, overall, the economy loses an estimated $309 billion per year due to the direct and indirect costs of

This trend indicates that there is a greater force at play: mainly the media's tendency for minimizing the struggles of minority communities. More broadly, this phenomenon of minority problems being reported inaccurately, or not being reported at all has been captured by Not To Be Trusted. This source was created to highlight the inaccuracies of media coverage in TV Crime Reporting, nevertheless, I believe that the messages from this campaign can be applied to print media. As the campaign makes clear "No one deserves to be perceived as a criminal just because of the color of their skin, let alone to be treated as one.". Yet I believe this is the exact reason that minority communities did not receive coverage over the opioid epidemic until it spread to communities that were predominantly White. The representation of minority communities allows the media to ignore issues plaguing these communities since they are perceived as expected outcomes. But as previously stated, no one deserves this kind of treatment, no one deserves to be labeled a criminal simply because they are of a darker complexion. The lack of coverage and aid pertaining to the heroin epidemic in Staten Island has shown that we need to reevaluate the way we report news relating to minority

The United States’ population is currently rising exponentially and with growth comes demographic shifts. Some of the demographics shifts include the population growth of Hispanics, increase in senior citizens especially minority elderly, increase in number of residents who do not speak English, increase in foreign-born residents, population trends of people from different sexual orientation, and trends of people with disabilities (Perez & Luquis, 2009). As a public health practitioner, the only way to effectively eliminate health disparities among Americans, one must explore and embrace the demographic shifts of the United States population because differences exist among ethnic groups (Perez, 2009). We must be cognizant of the adverse

One issue with underserved populations is an increase in health disparities, not only race and ethnicity, but also gender and age. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (2014) list a number of key findings from a report on underserved populations and health care. Mortality rates from certain diseases and different types of death were higher in different racial groups than Caucasians (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). Morbidity of asthma, oral disease, tuberculosis, obesity, and diabetes were also higher in minority groups (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). Preventive screening for the over-50 population was just over 60%

Butler brings to attention that even states within the United States that have a bigger ratio of “social services” spending to health care have seen better health outcomes, such as lower rates of heart disease and obesity (2). In addition, one must also consider the diverse population of the U.S. when it comes to certain preventative measures. Lesley Russell lists out some critical factors of the different races and their likeness to certain illnesses in the “Center for American Progress”. For instance, African Americans had the highest rate of adult obesity as compared to the white population (3). Some races may be more susceptible to certain illnesses and those statistics are important factors to consider when focusing preventative health care on certain population. If certain races of the population are more susceptible to obesity, for example, then we would need to inform physicians to advise those patients and perhaps offer some programs to help prevent further health risks. Although, focusing on preventative medicine rather than “reacting” health care might seem risky, there is enough evidence to see the benefits of implementing stronger preventative health care. Better to stop an illness from happening in the first place rather than when it is too late or risking falling into