Health Inequality In Health Care

Health disparities is not only a Clayton County issue but a national issue as well. Consequently, Healthy People 2020 initiated a decisive goal to reduce health disparities among all Americans by the year 2020. One of this goals of Healthy People 2020 is the reduction of infant mortality rate among Americans to a target goal of 6.0 deaths per 1,000 live births.1 In 2015, infant mortality rates for black non-Hispanics were 2.2 times that of white non-Hispanics. As it relates to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) black non-Hispanics mothers were 2 times greater than that of white non-Hispanics mothers.

Disparities in Health Geneva County is in the southeast portion of Alabama. According to 2015 Health Profile report, the population of Geneva County is 26,777. The minority group is 13% of the total population and is comprised of black and other non-white races. The health disparities that are more prevalent in the minorities in Geneva County are cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, 59% of all deaths in Geneva County in 2015 in the minority community were related to these three health conditions (County Health Profile, 2015).

Integrated healthcare is key to eliminating mental and physical health disparities by addressing the needs of people based on their differences in their race, socio-economic status, and culture. An integrated healthcare organization is competent of responding to a community with challenges of long standing health disparities. Healthcare professionals in an integrated system are cross-trained in both physical and behavioral health to handle the challenges of mental and physical health disparities. It improves the quality of care of the population by lowering costs, enhancing patient access, and improving the life of both individuals and families. The con of addressing the long standing health disparity is managing the care of patients and

Disparities in health care have been an ongoing issue for more than two decades. Evidence suggests that disparities in women and minority population continue to be problematic, with little progress being made to eliminate them. Ethnic and disparities exist for several different reasons. However, several national organizations have made efforts to reduce health disparities, including the Institute of Medicine, (IOM), and the Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ) as well as Healthy People 20/20.

A link between poverty, low educational attainment and poorer health outcomes with increased morbidity and mortality is well established (Causes of Health Disparities, n.d.). Also, certain religious practices may not allow one person to obtain the believed cure or care needed to prevent certain illnesses and diseases. A lack of income and low educational attainment decreases one 's chances of having quality access to healthcare. If one is not able to afford health care or is ignorant to what the health care field has to offer, illness and disease may build up over time, increasing chances for a health disparity. Gender and age could also cause one not to want to obtain health care, furthermore decreasing their health.

It can be quite prevailing for individuals to have financial problems towards health coverage. Based on the Health Affairs reference, “In the last decade, health insurance premiums costs have increased by 80%... whereas 58% of Americans report they are not able to seek medical attention due to high costs” (Gary Claxton, Matthew Rae, and Nirmita Panchal, et al). Statistics also present many factors exhibiting millions of individuals facing the risk of losing their insurance. Above all, health insurance is a basic health necessity. Medical services being available to everyone will benefit the public health not only with quality, but along with quantity.

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.

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,

Inequality is often associated with racial injustice, but actually goes beyond that and has created new ways for social inequality to exist among various circumstances in our country. It affects millions in terms of their way/ quality of life. In the United States and around the world, civilians struggle to receive adequate health care at the expense of their day jobs, hindering them from this as they cannot afford it. The middle has been struggling for decades over the same issues, yet permanent action has yet to transform the country. The issue of inequality has recinfoced itself in health care and income and continues to manifest itself in our society today leading to social problems in which we cannot escape making it an institutional

Expanding accessibility to affordable healthcare insurance is one way in which our country can begin to increase healthcare that is patient and family centered. One reason for existing disparities are the expenses associated with seeking healthcare. For some people, while the actual monthly payments of their health insurance is affordable, patients still face high deductibles or high out of pocket maximums. By making health insurance attainable for the majority of Americans, this alone is only the first step toward reducing some of the existing health disparities. Money alone is a factor that can deter people from seeking preventive treatment and screenings.

The term social determinants of health, can be defined as a ‘set of conditions in which people are born, grow up, live and work.’ These conditions include housing, education, financial security and the environment along with the healthcare service. (http://www.rcn.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/438838/01.12_Health_inequalities_and_the_social_determinants_of_health.pdf) These factors are affected by the amount of money, power and resources that are available at a global, national and local level. Social determinants of health are linked to health inequalities according to the World Health Organisation, health inequalities are ‘the unfair and avoidable differences in health status seen within and between countries.’

Health inequalities, task 2: In this essay I will provide sociological analysis of the underlying reasons for the differences in health and provide explanations and reasons of health inequalities. According to the map/graph (I provided), there are variations in health status according to social class, gender and geographical region in the UK. For example, the number of premature death are much higher in Scotland then elsewhere, for both men and women.

Health inequalities are preventable and unjust differences in health status experienced by certain population groups. People in lower socio-economic groups are more likely to experience chronic ill-health and die earlier than those who are more advantaged. Health inequalities are not only apparent between people of different socio-economic groups – they exist between different genders and different ethnic groups (“Health inequalities,” n.d.). The situation in which people are born, grow, develop, work and age are affected by social, economic, environmental and most importantly political factors.

Inaction during times of injustice can be best depicted by Desmond Tutu, a South African social rights activist, “If you are neutral in times of injustice, then you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” Consequently, neutrality is the easier, but not the appropriate thing, morally speaking, and can exacerbate the situation. In addition to how this could worsen an occasion, neutrality can cause adverse effects, being either psychological or physical. Individuals should act in times of inequalities and injustices due to the fact it is the morally correct thing to do, no matter the circumstances.

The smallest unit in this process is related to the economic life of peasants. The peasant economy has some characteristics which describe this mode of rural production. The common economic characteristics of peasant household agricultural production is about the ways by which the peasant families make use of the resources at their disposal, for production, for