Essay On Health Care Disparities

Although, the health care system is set up to reduce or to prevent disease etc., there is a gap or disparity in the US health care system. The sexual orientation, race, age, etc., in the US deprived certain groups from receiving equal opportunity in the health care and the health care. Thus, making the disparities in the US health system an

Minorities and disabled are often more likely to be in health disparities rather than others. Also those in lower economic classes are also more affected than the wealthier class. The LGBT community is more at risk of having higher health disparities. Racial groups such as minorities may be affected by health disparities because many come from areas of low socioeconomic status and live in areas with high health risk.

46.8 million Americans were reported as uninsured in 2013, which equivocates to one sixth of the population. Those without insurance have revealed that they risk “more problems getting care, are diagnosed at later disease stages, and get less therapeutic care” (National Health Care Disparities Report) and those insured risk losing their insurance. Inadequately covered citizens are often working-class individuals who simply cannot receive insurance due to uncontrollable inconveniences and therefore jeopardize having medical coverage. In these instances, Americans have a chance of being diagnosed with diseases that they had no opportunity to prevent or could not diagnose them at an early stage of the illness. Patients have suffered unnecessarily due to lack of health care, and “18,000 Americans die every year because they don't have health insurance” (PNHP).

Today many Americans are concern about health care. This includes individuals that have health care coverage and those who cannot afford health insurance. Unfortunately, health care premiums are rising, and coverage is limited. The care and coverage we are receiving as individuals is poor and it has become a sensitive topic in our country today. While the Affordable Act was meant to increase the quality of care individuals receive and to increase the number of individuals insured, today healthcare is not what it was meant to accomplish.

Individuals report high dissatisfaction when barriers to communication lead to misunderstanding and lack of adherence. Spanish-speaking ethnic minorities provide higher complaints with health care facilities and healthcare workers than English- speaking Caucasians. They also report lower satisfaction with the quality of care (Lor et al, 2015). Not all interpretation services produce the same level of satisfaction. Studies have shown that there is a higher level of patient satisfaction among individuals who receive a professional medical interpreter than a non-professional interpreter.

Spector mentions they are more likely to make less money which can lead to them living in poverty (pg. 52). For example, while the number of Hispanics in America is increasing, they are more likely to face these struggles. Unfortunately, it seems that there is a debate on whether healthcare is a luxury or a human right. If they are struggling to make money, leading them to live in poverty can affect their health.

Today, the amount of coverage and treatment that mentally ill individuals are provided with may depend on what type of insurance they have. However, as shown above, there is a variation in the amount of coverage for mental health services as opposed to physical health services (McLaughlin, 2004). There are many reasons why private and public health care programs have claimed for providing inadequate insurance coverage for mental versus physical health, including claiming that "… that mental health care is costlier and less efficacious than physical health care," (Tovino, 2012). This, however, completely ignores the differences between mental and physical health care and needs. Mental health care is certainly viewed in a more positive light today than in previous years, however, poor insurance coverages show that many do not take it as seriously as they must.

Healthcare is an important access we hold, but an issue is that not everyone can have that access to the healthcare they need. There are many arguments regarding the United States adopting a universal healthcare system. Although the universal system may reduce the quality of care the people receive, there are too many people not able to get any kind of care. Therefore a universal healthcare system would be more beneficial to the citizens of the United States than the limited access of care we have today. The first editorial is in favor of the universal healthcare system.

Another reason is the different respond between male and female. Women are more likely to seek medical help and admit illness which doctors are more likely to diagnose women as ill than men. It is mentioned that men are generally less likely to seek professional help than women by Featherstone, Rivett and Scourfield, 2007. Moreover, men take the higher rates of injury from accident because they engage in more physical risk-taking and accidents have always be a feature of masculine rather than feminine experience. The differences and gendered understandings of appropriate male or female behavior can be the explanation on the differences in the health experience.

Errors occurrence in sharing patient’s information varied with team leadership style. Failure in planning and lack of collaboration varied with medical unit and team leadership. Failure in decision-making varied with medical units. Delegation of authority varied with positions. However specialist doctors witnessed errors due to the delegation of authority more than other.

African Americans and other minorities are more likely to die in the hospital from illnesses than whites. Some factors that may contribute to the lack of care for minorities are cultural and religious beliefs, geographic locations, and preferences for treatment (Johnson 2003). Although, these may be factors that contribute to the reason it is not exact. Access to care and research for minorities who suffer from advanced illnesses, palliative care, is limited; the availability of high quality care is not equivalent to those of non-minority races.

This health fair shows the limited contact many of the participants have with the health care system, because majority lack health insurance, and find medical costs unaffordable. Despite the expansion to healthcare through the Affordable Care Act, participants in this study were mostly uninsured, drastically reducing their access to quality health care. Similar to other immigrant groups, barriers that may be responsible for the high rates of uninsured African immigrants include language barriers and health literacy. Some of the participants speak English as a second language; this does not only affect their ability to communicate but also affects their ability to comprehend health or insurance information. (31) Another potential obstacle is that the data on the number of the currently uninsured African immigrants who know about their coverage options is lacking, as earlier mentioned this group is likely categorized as Black or African American.

Briefly explain why according to this article average Americans cannot afford health care. (1-2 sentences) Is due to disparities in high healthcare cost, uneven distribution of resources, inequality of wealth and income. 6. A primary goal of the ACA was to improve access to health care. But affordability remains the problem.

After verbal description of advanced dementia, African Americans were more likely to have preferences for aggressive care than whites. Also, preferences after the verbal description were strongly associated with health literacy. Participants with low health literacy were more likely to have preferences for aggressive care compared to participants with adequate health literacy. However, after the participants viewed the video, their preferences were statistically significant different (p<0.0001) than after hearing the verbal description: no whites and only 13% of African Americans preferred aggressive

When comparing the rates of lung, colorectal, and cervical cancers between Appalachia and the United States, high occurrences and later stage diagnosis occur in Appalachia. In addition, lung and cervical cancers were at a higher rate in rural Appalachia than urban areas of Appalachia. The percentage of unstaged cancers was higher in rural Appalachia. This is most likely due to the lack of access to widespread diagnostic methods and care. Studies have stated that the greater