Racial Discrimination and Hispanics in the United States

For many illegal aliens, seeking healthcare is undermined by the fear of being deported. Many would rather suffer through an illness or injury than seek care for fear that they will be sent back to Mexico. Unfortunately, but the time that they finally get to a point where it is absolutely necessary to obtain care, the cost of that care has become a much larger figure than it would have been had they obtained care sooner.

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

There are major challenges faced by policy makers such as trying to control the cost of Medicaid spending because Medicaid is the biggest payer of these services. Policy makers must ensure that they are also keeping the individual served front and foremost in their decisions. Ensuring that quality services are met is one piece of the puzzle. As stated, unfortunately it seems that those who have lesser insurance or who cannot afford these services are provided with less than

When Americans think of racism, they usually think of slavery, and that racism is no longer a problem in America. However, this is not the case. Racism is still obvious in America. Racism can be linked directly to stereotypical mindsets of certain groups of people.  Today’s racism is not restricted to whites and blacks, and it has come to define many different groups and races. Pigmentation as well as physical characteristics and features still are influential for classifying people. It is easy to overlook the racism that hides below the surface and is part of American life. Today, an estimate 54 million Latinos live in the U.S. and around 43 million people speak Spanish. Although Latinos are the country’s largest minority, anti-Latino prejudice is still common. Very few Americans recognize, acknowledge, and respect the contributions of one of America’s greatest ethnic groups – Hispanics. Americans are often confused as to who Hispanics really are and what they represent in America. Although the United States is known for having a melting pot of diverse cultures, recent studies have shown the rise of discrimination against Latinos and Hispanics immigrants. A person’s legal status should not be an excuse for mistreatment.

Many factors can influence a person’s access to health care. Age can influence access to health care because some physicians will treat only children or only the elderly. Income can influence access to health care because specialty driven health care usually involves significant out-of-pocket expense to the patient because some procedures are not covered by health insurance. Location also can be an influence on access to health care. Many patients do not have transportation because of age, dependency on family members, health reasons, or financial reasons. According to the Journal of the National Medical Association, Access to health care can influence the prevalence of chronic disease risks and cancer screening utilization in many ways (Shavers, Shanker, Alberg, 2002, p. 955). If patients are not given

M., Crosnoe, R., Fortuny, K., Pedroza, J., Ulvestad, K., Weiland, C., ... & Chaudry, A. (2012). Barriers to immigrants’ access to health and human services programs. ASPE Research Brief. Washington, DC: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. http://www. urban. org/publications/413260. html.

There are countless significant factors that affect this problem, although most of them are society and the way that they portray their predetermined biases to the poor or anyone who is struggling. The only way to alleviate these issues is to continue to educate the people in hopes that future generations will rectify the wrong of the past. Nevertheless, we can orchestrate some ways to lessen the burden of the underserved from listening to their needs, for instance, lack of transportation, including travel time, and safety to and from the physician’s office would allow many to truly have the ability to utilize their insurance. Another issue is clinic and appointment wait time, inability to pay co-pays or prescription fees, knowledge of benefits, and the poor treatment they receive from front office staff and medical assistance due to their insurance status (Freed, Hansberry, & Arrieta). Recipients of employee based commercial insurance can’t possibly understand the difficulties that the poverty stricken population endure just trying to use their insurance and due to this there is no empathy or response to these struggles. The common belief system in America is that everybody is given the same opportunity and if you are struggling, it is your own fault. This is a complete, nonsensical way of thinking.

The CDC report shows that non-Hispanic white persons who were living in poor conditions were unable to go to work due to health issues. It is stated that it was twice as much as the Hispanic population. Moreover, it was reported that white people experienced greater incidents of adverse medical consultancy than the Hispanic persons. Statistics show that the numbers are 129 and 82 (out of thousand) respectively. However, the figures for health insurance in case of Hispanic people are not satisfactory. Around 32% of Hispanic population, who lie in the age bracket of less than 65, is not medically insured. (Cdc.gov, 2015)

Lack of doctors is only one facet to this multifaceted problem. Accessibility in terms of having the financial resources to obtain care is another. “Individuals in lower social status groups have the highest rates

Americans are made up of many different ethnic groups and classes. This variation of incomes and access to healthcare creates many

The most prevalent barrier to health care in my opinion is insurance and access for low-income families. In the U.S. health care delivery is expensive than in other countries as per a study conducted by the Kaiser Family foundation. Due to the high health care cost, it is difficult for people with no insurance or low-income to access health care. Though the federal and the state governments have instituted public health insurance programs such as Medicare and Medicaid and expanded coverage this population is still vulnerable. To overcome access to health care, costs and few indirect economic barriers such as lost work time, childcare costs, transportation, personal and ethnic considerations should be overcome. Most of the time access to health

Currently, our nation is experiencing a vast socioeconomic disparity in access to primary and preventative care. Studies have shown, “the

The underserve population which include minorities either by race or ethnicity are more susceptible face negative events. Those people are more likely to live in poverty stricken areas and have to face some of the greatest challenges when it comes to health and health care services. These racial/ethnic groups tent to live shorter lives. This could be attributes to several reasons; they are more likely to smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol and either underinsured or uninsured and do not get regular medical care (Shi, Singh, 2013). These individuals are more likely to delay healthcare or go without necessary medication due to lack of insurance. None English speaking people has a language barriers finding it difficult to understand basic about their

Depending on if you are a racial minority or of lower class in society can influence health and longevity through out life. It can effect in many ways whether it is noticed or not. If you are of higher class, white collar job you most likelyy have insurance that might even be paid for one hundred percent or at least paid by a reasonable fee right out of your paycheck. If that is the case then that solves one problem for people going to the doctor because they do not need to worry about being covered for insurance. Also if you are from a higher class you most likely have sick time that you accrue throughout your working days. That not only if you call in sick you still get paid but you can also use those days for doctors appointments.

Besides this, lack of health insurance and its low penetration causes further challenge towards access to healthcare.