Minority Healthcare & Socioeconomic Issues

Throughout the decades, the topic of healthcare and its obvious disparities has been noted and discussed time and time again, Over time, we noticed that there’s an obvious disparity when it comes to the healthcare and its access when it comes to people of color and what they receive in contrast with the healthcare that White people get in the United States.

Numerous socio-economic issues can affect the way a minority receives healthcare in America. With income, education, language, and racial inequalities coming to an intersection, the cost of healthcare and the quality of healthcare received leaves a large disparity in our healthcare system in the United States.

The socioeconomic differences have been pointed to as the root of the issue of the disparity in healthcare in America. “The socioeconomic stratification that patterns American life, and differences in if for the major racial-ethnic groups, is assumed to be the root cause of these differences (Adler et al., 1994; Link and Phelan, 1995).

People of different social statuses lead lives that differ in almost all aspects—childhood circumstances, educational experiences, work careers, marriage and family experiences, leisure, neighborhood conditions, and health care (Williams and Collins, 1995). Many of the effects of SES on health outcomes are indirect through a variety of life experiences, opportunities, or choices related to SES, beginning in early life and either cumulating or being tempered by later life situations.”(1) “Racial and ethnic minorities are more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to be poor or near-poor. In addition, Hispanics, Blacks, and some Asian subgroups are less likely than non-Hispanic whites (0 have a high school education.

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The effects of the racial disparities are that people of color receive poor healthcare than those who are white, “Blacks and AVANs [American Indians/Alaska Natives] received worse care than Whites for about 40% of measures. Asians received worse care than Whites for about 20% of measures, and Hispanics received worse care than non-Hispanic Whites for about 60% of care measures. Poor people received worse care than high-income people for about 80% of core measures.” Disparities in the access to care also exist as it states, “Adults age 65 and over rarely had worse access to care than adults ages 18-44, Blacks had worse access to care than Whites for 32% of access measures. Asians had worse access to care than Whites for 17% of access measures. AVANS had worse access to care than Whites for 62% of access measures. Hispanics had worse access to care than non-Hispanic Whites for 63% of access measures. Poor people had worse access to care than high-income people for 89% of access measures.”

Other problems that can arise from people of color receiving worse healthcare than White people would be that there are more than plenty of cases where the patients are immigrants and aren’t fluent in English, and there’s a lack of availability to healthcare (including health insurance), and barriers like income, ethnicity, and also education are present. When it comes to health insurance status, “In 2009, Blacks under age 65 unless less likely than Whites to have health insurance (81% compared with 8395), and AVANs under age 65 were less likely than Whites to have health insurance (68% compared with 83%). There were no statistically significant differences for other racial groups. In 2009, Hispanics under age 65 were less likely than non-Hispanic Whites to have health insurance (67% compared with 87%). From 1999 t0 2009, while the percentage of people with health insurance increased for poor people (from 66% to 70%), the percentage decreased for middle-income people ({rom 86% to 82%). In 2009, the percentage
of people with health insurance was significantly lower for poor, low-income, and middle-income people than for high-income people (70%, 70%, and 82%, respectively, compared with 94%). In 2009, the percentage of people ages 25-64 with health insurance was about one-third lower for people with less than a high school education than for people with at least some college education (56% compared with 88%). “(2)

Possible solutions to rectify these deep and complex issues in our healthcare system would be to first identify and recognize the disparities, become more culturally aware/competent, then come up with a model so that there’s more communication about these disparities and how we can eliminate them as listed bere: “Identify sociocultural barriers to care for various racial-ethnic groups, explore at what level in the process of obtaining care these barriers occurred (health systems-level, clinical encounter level, and so on), identify cultural competence interventions that address these specifically identified sociocultural barriers, and link these interventions to « framework that can be applied to the elimination of racial ethnic disparities in health and health care.”

It remains true today, however, that minority patients with access to the health care system face organizational, structural, and clinical barriers that preclude them from fully capitalizing on the advances in health promotion and disease prevention that have benefited the majority of Americans…Greater attention is now being placed by the government and the private health care industry on cultural competence in light of the overwhelming literature on racial/ethnic disparitieshealtholth and health care. A basic framework and conceptual model that is simple, practical, and based on a review of the literature in the field, such as the one presented here, can facilitate targeted interventions. Given the strong evidence for sociocultural barriers to care at multiple levels of the health care system, culturally competent care is a key cornerstone in efforts 10 eliminate racial ethnic disparities in health and health care.”With a structured model/framework to work with, cultural understanding and sensitivity, and laws/policies in the healthcare system that helps those who don’t have access ar receive proper care, the inequalities in our healthcare system can be terminated.