Healthcare Disparities In Health

As a low-income, first-generation Mexican American/college graduate, my personal identities and experiences uniquely position me to contribute to RFU’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts (DEI). Through my journey, I have encountered various challenges and triumphs that have shaped my perspective and deepened my commitment to promoting DEI in healthcare and beyond. My lived experience growing up in an economically disadvantaged and medically underserved community has heightened my awareness of the healthcare disparities and inequities that exist, especially being raised in a traditional Hispanic household. It has fueled my passion to address these issues and advocate for accessible, culturally sensitive, and equitable healthcare.

As the Social Sources of Racial Disparities in Health states on page 327, socioeconomic status or “SES”, neighborhood residential conditions and location, and medical care are important contributors to racial differences in disease to healthcare ratio, as well as other factors such as income, education, and occupation (Williams, 2005). One can see why they are these are “getting under the skin”, the Pima and Tohono O’odham Indians of southern Arizona were not educated on health food and live in poverty. The person (or people) of color making out of the ghetto or city, only to move back, because there are no programs set forward for them. Basically everything they did, was getting under their skin, and killing

With the ongoing changes on policies in healthcare, it is imperative to consider the legal and ethical issues in health disparities and access to care based on the socioeconomic status. Research have shown over the past 25 years that disparities in the quality of care are highly influenced by individual characteristics such as race, gender, ethnicity, education, income, and age. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) recognized that providing care is not simply a “one size fits all” approach especially with the diverse population in today’s society. As healthcare professionals, we need to be alert and know how to properly intervene with such disparities so that the care provided is tailored to the individual.

Underserved women in America are not able to get quality health care because of poverty, ethnicity, geography, and other reasons. These women generally need more health services due to high

In conducting reviews of research related to health disparities and lack of access to healthcare for minorities, there are several articles that cite data and methods that show the relationship to minorities with low SES are significantly impacted. According to the peer reviewed article, “Reducing Health Disparities in Underserved Communities” there is a significant disparity in access to healthcare for minorities health services among whites, blacks, and Hispanics over the past two decades. The article also cited several causes to this lack of access such as

Healthcare disparity can be explained as the gap created in the delivery of healthcare to communities which causes some communities to receive better healthcare than others. Some factors that can cause these disparities include race, socioeconomic status, location, and gender. Because of health care disparities, there are a lot of patients who are and will be at risk for many diseases such as diabetes, obesity and hypertension. These disparities negatively affect the overall cost of delivering quality healthcare and are issues that must be addressed by the people who know them best, the health care workers. Through the NURSE Corps Program I hope to help address these imbalances in underserved communities in various ways.

One of the major obstacles affecting black women's access to health care is systemic racism. Racial biases pose a significant danger to black women, as they affect their physical and mental well-being. Studies have shown that race-based medical biases can result in incorrect diagnoses, prolonged wait times, treatment delays, and neglect. These issues make it challenging for black women to receive prompt and adequate health care. Additionally, many black women lack health

Health inequities among racial minorities are prominent and persistent and various forms of racism may be one of the important causes of these inequities. Cultural racism can be defined as negative images, stereotypes, and prejudice related to certain cultural group, for example, negative stereotypes of African American as unintelligent, lazy, living off welfare, and prone to violence. Whereas, interpersonal discrimination is directly perceived discriminatory treatment at individual-level due to belonging to certain racial and ethnic identity, for example, being rude to a person because he or she belonged to certain racial and ethnic identity (Williams & Mohammed, 2013). Whereas, structural racism include macro-level systems, social forces,

Health disparities have been an issue all over the world. In the United States, individual and community activism have been seen in an attempt to address the health inequalities of the underrepresented groups tracing back to 1781 (Mitchell, 2015). With the passing of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the hope for social equality and justice through insurance for all remains complex. The legislation will certainly provide better health outcomes, but health advocacy remains an important aspect in changing the landscape of our health system. A study indicated that the overall rate of insurance coverage increased and a decreased in “coverage disparities related to race and ethnicity” was noted a few years after the ACA was passed (Buchmueller,

Health Care in the US is arguably available to all who seek it but not everybody has had the same experience and treatment when walking through the doors of a healthcare facility. In many cases, people are discriminated against due to their gender, race/ethnicity, age, and income and are often provided with minimal service. Differences between groups in health coverage, access to care, and quality of care is majorly affected through these disparities. Income is a major factor and can cause groups of people to experience higher burden of illness, injury, disability, or mortality relative to another group.

Renowned author of Under the Skin and associate professor at CUNY’s Journalism School, Linda Villarosa delivers several key facts in her interview on Black American regarding racial health disparities in America. Villarosa discusses many factors of health disparities, such as the distrust African Americans have of the healthcare system, the unjust treatment of African Americans in the hands of healthcare practitioners, and the underrepresentation of African Americans in clinical trials. Villarosa makes it clear that there is a deep disparity between the treatment of black and white Americans in the healthcare system. The author uses statistics and anecdotal evidence to present a thorough evaluation of health disparities in America.

Kaiser Family Foundation (2012), health and health care despairs refer to differences in the health and health care between population groups. The health disparity generally refers to a higher burden of illness, injury, disability, or mortality experienced by one population group relative to another. A health care disparity typically refers to the differences between groups in health coverage, access to care, and quality of care. While disparities are commonly viewed through the lens of race and ethnicity, they occur across many dimensions, including socioeconomic status, age, location, gender, disability status, and sexual orientation (HKFF,

The lack of financial resources can be a big problem to access to health care. The lack of available finance is a barrier to health care for many Americans but access to health care is reduced most among minority populations. The irregular source of care is another reason why access to health is a disparity. Compared to white individuals ethnic or racial minorities are less likely to be able to visit the same doctor on a regular basis and tend to rely more on clinics and emergency rooms (News Medical Life Sciences). 5.

Many Americans were led to believe that the introduction of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2009 would put an end to disparities in health care access. While it did improve the situation for a small percentage of the population there are still many Americans who lack access to good quality health care. Health care access in America is determined by money and those in lower socioeconomic groups frequently tend to miss out on adequate care. In a recent health care report by the national health research foundation Kaiser Family Foundation, it was noted “health care disparities remain a persistent problem in the United States, leading to certain groups being at higher risk of being uninsured, having limited access to care, and experiencing poorer quality of care” (Kaiser Family Foundation). The current health care

Although we see advantages and disadvantages to socioeconomic statuses, health disparity - while evident - was not a topic of discussion for me and my peers. The fact that individuals with lower socioeconomic statuses have less than desirable health results is not surprising, but what we should focus on is their lack of resources. Middle-class and lower class citizen, have lower levels of education, accept riskier jobs, experience elevated stress associated with race, class or gender oppression and have limited access to health care. Research suggests that individuals near the poverty line have a higher rate of illness than all other income groups (Braveman, Cubbin, Egerter, Williams, & Pamuk, 2010).