The Research On Health Disparities Across The United States

For this paper and hereinafter health disparity is defined as “a particular type of health difference that is closely linked with social, economic, and/or environmental disadvantage. Health disparities adversely affect groups of people who have systematically experienced greater obstacles to health based on their racial or ethnic group; religion; socioeconomic status; gender; age; mental health; cognitive, sensory, or physical disability; sexual orientation or gender identity; geographic location; or other characteristics historically linked to discrimination or exclusion.”(healthypeople.gov). This definition is from Healthy People 2020, the guide for the Nation’s health promotion.

People often interpret the word disparities as only having to do with race or ethnicity, however the term goes beyond that and includes sex, sexual identity, age, disability, socioeconomic status, and geographic location (“U.S. Department of Health,” 2011). The goal of Healthy People has changed over the decades, at first it was to reduce health disparities, then it was to eliminate disparities, and now for 2020 it is to achieve health equality, eliminate disparities, and improve the health of all groups of people (“U.S. Department of Health,” 2011).

Discrimination and the differential quality of medical care African-Americans receive are seen in all levels of professional healthcare workers. The differential treatments are ultimately affecting African-American lives due to the pertained racial divide and continued racism that is engrained in American society. The accumulation of racial biases reflects societal norms and it’s problems, and the increase skepticism African-Americans have towards health care – leading to more health disparities, more preventable diseases, and ultimately more death. Many studies from medical professionals and personal medical visits from patients have shown that their claims of African-Americans facing lesser quality and differential treatment are valid, whether these patients are in the Emergency Department, or seen by different health care professionals.

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.

Passed down from generation to generation, African Americans have recounted the horror stories concerning the humiliation and abuse endured from the American medical community. The institution of systematic racism and discrimination leads Blacks further into a culture of untrusting those who have taken the sacred Hippocratic Oath. In the book Medical Apartheid author Harriet Washington (2006) uses the term “Black iatrophobia” to define the African American culture of being fearful of medicine; this fear is attributed to an extensive history of inhumane experimentation against the Black race in the United States from the days of colonial slavery to the era of modern medicine. “Health disparities adversely affect groups of people who have systematically experienced greater obstacles to health based on their racial or ethnic group” (Purnell, 2013, p. 6).

Discrimination and the differential quality of medical care African-Americans receive are seen in all levels of professional healthcare workers. Many studies show that African-Americans face lesser quality and differential treatment whether these patients are in the Emergency Department, or seen by different health care professionals, such as registered nurses and surgical clinicians. Decreased communication in maternity care has negatively impacted African-American. The accumulation of racial biases reflects societal norms and the increase of communication barriers between health care providers and African-American patients. Thus, educating current and future healthcare workers in the UC Davis Health System can successfully decrease the

While it remains unquestionable that the less substantial treatment of African-Americans in hospitals around the United States exists, there are a variety of different causes of these problems. Many studies document factors such as ethnicity, living situations, insurance status, annual income, access to care, sexual orientation, racial biases, and education levels as well as the socioeconomic status of citizens. However, while many of these factors are difficult to immediately change, race is one that can be recognized and altered to a further degree as well as with a significantly higher level of ease.

Before delving further into these aspects, a distinct understanding of racism, discrimination, and disparities is significant to seeing the connection of how they each relate to the health impacts of American minorities. Racism is an institutional and systematic form of oppression, seeking to undermine the progression of minority groups, in an effort to place them as inferior based upon the taxonomy of race. Discrimination is clear mistreatment among certain individuals based on prejudices against various parties. Finally, disparities are facets of different communities that force an unfair disadvantage upon them. All three of these factors contribute to negative health impacts among minorities. Racism and discrimination have played a major role in creating such health disparities over many years throughout history.

Dr Ananya Mandal a N​ews­Medical.net​author defines Health Disparities as “the inequalities that occur in the provision of health care and access to health care across different racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups.” This means Health disparities are essentially discrepancies in the servicing of Healthcare as well as in access to healthcare amongst people of different racial, cultural, and socioeconomic groups. Health Disparities has many underlying factors that impact it, a factor in particular is Health system barriers. Health system barriers are critical problems such as Access, Utilization, or Quality that serve to obstruct the passage towards proper Health. Health system barriers are one of the many factors that contribute to Health Disparities, health system barriers are composed of three major barriers; Access, Utilization, and Quality. These barriers all greatly impact Health Disparities and impact the path toward achieving quality health, with that in mind, the question of is one of these barriers more responsible for Health Disparities than the other? And the answer is yes, and the health system barrier that is most responsible for Health Disparities. Although many people believe that there is not one barrier that is more responsible for Health disparities, there is one barrier that is more responsible and that is on the account of the other barriers being the results of the one barrier.

Medical racism affects people of color in contemporary society in a variety of ways (Holloway, 2105). Doctors unaware of their unconscious racial biases may treat patients of color differently, such as lecturing them, speaking more slowly to them and keeping them longer for visits (Study, 2014). Such behaviors lead minority patients to feel disrespected by medical providers and sometimes suspend care. In addition, some physicians fail to give patients of color the same range of treatment options as they offer to white patients (Study, 2014). Medical racism won’t dissipate until medical schools teach doctors about the history of institutional racism and its legacy today. In spite of significant advances in the diagnosis and treatment of most chronic diseases, there is evidence that racial and ethnic minorities tend to receive lower quality of care than non-minorities and that, patients of minority ethnicity experience greater morbidity and mortality from various chronic diseases than non-minorities (Study, 2014). Rather than looking for biological factors inherent in race which are responsible for racial inequities in health, some researchers propose that the “problem of racism” must be seen as one of the primary factors in producing inequitable health outcomes in racialized populations regardless of socioeconomic or educational status (Study, 2014). Racial inequality in health needs to be situated within an historical context and a contemporary reality shaped by racism in its various forms (Study, 2014). While race is often referred to as a social construct with no real material base, racist assumptions continue to shape institutions and social interactions including those related to health and health care (Study, 2014). This ties back to ‘white privilege’; being identified as ‘white’ is prescribed in the way we act and

According to Knight (2014), health inequity and disparity is related to social injustice; hence, public health needs to engage in the political process and advocate for conditions that foster health such as housing and education, and to eliminate poverty. When my children were in high school, the school they went to was 60% minority and 30% white. Other schools in the same school district had racial proportions opposite to our schools (60% white and 30% minority). These schools were better funded, thus received greater resources for higher test scores according to the requirements of the No Child Left Behind law (NCLB) (Great School Staff, 2016). Conversely, our school’s scores failed to meet test score requirements and receive less funding

The roots of black mistreatment in medicine run deep-from segregated waiting rooms to experimentation using African American patients without their consent. A study was taken by Disparities Solutions Centers, affiliated with Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, where various hospitals were

Hall and Fields explains “racial health disparities, including poor access, late diagnosis, under diagnosis, misdiagnosis, and under treatment, are well established facts” in the Black community (2013 P. 166). This supports the idea of having a lack of privilege impacts the lives of many people across the world. Many black patients don't have the proper health education available to them as an accessible resource, therefore, the medical treatment they receive is not always up to

During this week’s activity, the class participated in a open forum discussion about the repercussions of racially charged thinking in medicine. The articles we read before class discussed the implications of preconceived notions about race and illness and how they are perceived to be connected in some way. This easily creates detrimental ideologies surrounding who is “allowed” to be diagnosed with certain diseases as well as who medical professionals may or may not test for certain illnesses based on the perceived race of the person they are treating. I think these misconceptions are fading gradually, but there are still more stigmas to overcome.

Over the past century, Racism has become more prevalent not only in the United States but globally. This rampant toxic disease is experienced by minorities day after day with little progress being made. Discrimination has an effect on the lives of minorities whether or not it is intentional. Having a negative attitude or stereotyping minorities within the subconscious mind will allow discrimination to exist without realizing it. It is an unconscious process. Minorities have been passed over for jobs in which they are qualified, housing they can afford or more importantly the painful tensions between the African -Americans and the police. It is to no surprise that discrimination can lead to measurable negative effects on health. Every seven minutes, an African American person dies prematurely in the United States. Perhaps this would not be the case if the medical care of blacks and whites were equal. Statistics show that whites who are high school dropouts live 3.4 years longer than their black counterparts, and the gap is even larger among college graduates. While whites who have graduated from high school live longer than blacks with a college degree or more education. This poses a real problem: Why does race have such a profound effect on health and overall wellness?