Health Care Disparities

According to Baldwin (2003) health care disparities are the differences in health and health care between population groups including race, socioeconomic status, age, location, gender, disability, and sexual orientation. Disparities limits the improvements of quality health care which could result in unnecessary health care expenses. Factors that are contributing to disparities within today’s society are lack of access to quality health care and the number of individuals who are uninsured. As the population continue to grow and become more diverse health care disparities will continue to increase. Patient centered care efforts will improve health care and will assist with eliminating disparities. Patient centered care will promote patient

Disparities in Healthcare Quality Among Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups | AHRQ Archive. (n.d.). Retrieved March 05, 2018, from

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

Over 43 million people in the United States, including 9 million children, do not have health insurance; the majority of these people are immigrants and people of color. Several factors explain the disproportionate rate of uninsured individuals in these racial and ethnic communities. Anti-immigrant laws leave thousands of people without access to health insurance, and a lack of interpreters and translated documents creates a language barrier for those with limited English proficiency. People of color also suffer from living in a discriminatory

Racial differences play a huge role in the access of health care services for Americans. It is perceived that whites are more likely to access quality services than ethnic minority groups in the country. The racial groups that are perceived to have limited access to healthcare services include the black community and Hispanics across the United States (White & Chanoff, 2011). Geographical factors also determine the level of access to health services since some regions have fewer medical resources than

Thus, premature death and preventable losses of quality of life are probable outcomes. Elderly individuals may be less frequently provided the best data-supported healthcare simply because they are old. Thus, bias or prejudice against the aged may be a significant cause. Furthermore, Africa-American have poorer access to care than Whites, for one-third of core measures. Asians and American Indian/Alaska Native had shoddier access to care than Whites for 1 of 5 core measures. Hispanics had inferior access to care than non-Hispanic Whites for 5 of 6 core measures. Also, Poor people had inferior access to care than high-income people for all 6 core measures (Stone,

Some areas in the United States face higher rates of crime and drug abuse. This contributes to the prevalence of health disparities within different communities. In order to eliminate or decrease the distinct difference between areas that are at higher health risks than others one must begin to understand why they exist.

Health disparities are the different kinds of illness that occur among different population groups. Over the years, technology has advanced as well as education but they have only helped out certain groups dealing with health disparities as there still are problems involving health disparities. One reason health disparities still exist is due to race and ethnicity. Depending on your racial and ethnical background plays a huge factor in health disparities. Certain racial groups are lacking the eduction about health disparities. They are lacking the education because they don't have access to health care and limited education. So they are unable to get the education about what exactly health disparities is. Another reason we still have health

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. I too suspect that the results of the affordable care act will not be seen for a few more years. Hopefully, as more people become insured and as health insurance is more in demand, accessibility and affordability will continue to improve.

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

While many argue that minorities and ethnicities face health care disparities due to racial backgrounds, other argue that these disparities instead occur because of a large range of dimensions. The populations most vulnerable to health and health care disparities are often referred to as priority or vulnerable populations. Vulnerable populations include groups that are not well integrated into the health care system across a variety of characteristics, including race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age, geographic location, language, gender, disability status, citizenship status, and sexual identity and orientation. Disparities also occur within subgroups of populations. For example, among Hispanics, there are differences in health and health

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.

Health care disparities are unfortunate and being culturally competent is an essential step toward eliminating these inequalities. In this discussion, I will review what disparities are associated with the Appalachian culture and how they affect health status, employment, and education. I will also identify two nursing interventions that could be taken to help decrease the affect that health disparities have on the Appalachians and review what the biggest challenge would be when implementing the interventions.

In conclusion, health disparity in the county remains a persistent problem, this has to lead to certain groups being at higher risk of being uninsured, having more restricted access to care, getting poorer quality of care, and ultimately experiencing worse health outcomes. While health disparity is most of the time viewed through the lens of race and ethnicity, they happen throughout a wide range of sizes and reflect a difficult set of individual, social, and environmental factors. Disparity limits the continued improvement of the quality of care and results in unnecessary costs. It is increasingly important to address as the population is becoming more diverse. For the long time now, there has been augmented focus on reducing health disparity and a growing set of initiatives to address health disparity in the community, As the Philadelphia

There is evidence that suggests individuals of lower economic status and certain minority populations receive lower quality healthcare. Furthermore, it has been documented that disparity exists between treatment received by minorities with HIV, heart disease, and cancer which can ultimately lead to reduced patient outcomes (McCorry and Mason, 2011). How infuriating! It is my belief that humans are all created equally in the eyes of God and should receive equal treatment. Gallatians 3:28 teaches us, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (English Standard Version).