Brianna Wallace
ThursdayDec 7 at 11:22pm
Certain population groups in the United States either face greater barriers than the general population in accessing timely and needed healthcare services or have special health-related issues that may go unaddressed. Members of these groups, who face a greater risk of poor physical, psychological, and social health (Aday, 1994), may be referred to as underserved populations, medically underserved, medically disadvantaged, underprivileged, or vulnerable populations; marginalized groups; or American underclasses (Shi & Singh, 2019). The United States has many different population groups, but specific groups do face more problems than others, African Americans and Hispanics are two very underserved and vulnerable populations. These groups of people can have predisposing characteristics that lead to vulnerability. Attributes predisposing individuals to vulnerability include demographic characteristics, belief systems, and social structure variables. These attributes are associated with social position, access to resources, health behaviors, and variations in health status, which individuals have relatively little control over (Shi & Singh, 2019).
African Americans face various amount of health disparities such as higher rates of premature death, shorter life expectancy than white Americans, more likely to be economically challenged than white Americans, more likely than whites to have poor or fair health status, black males are more likely to smoke cigarettes than whites. African Americans also experienced, more than double the infant mortality rate compared to non-Hispanic white women in both 2005 and 2008 ( CDC, 2013 ), 665% higher homicide rates compared to non-Hispanic whites ( CDC, 2013 ) and higher rates of premature death (death before age 75 years) from stroke and coronary heart disease than whites ( Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2013 ). Hispanic Americans also face disparities as well such as, AIDS is the leading cause of death, more likely to be uninsured or underinsured than whites, a higher proportion of Hispanics over 18 are more than likely to be obese than whites, a fourth of the families live below the poverty line, homicide is the second leading cause of death in males.
One of the most consistent findings across decades of research is that minorities have poor access to health services compared to their white counterparts, even after considering insurance, socioeconomic, and health status (Shi & Singh, 2019). Based on significant amounts of research, various minority groups are more likely to have higher illness and mortality rates than white Americans. Disparities in health exist between white and nonwhite Americans in measures of perceived health status as well as in traditional indicators of health such as infant mortality rate, general population mortality rate, and birth weight (Shi & Singh, 2019).
The United States population consists of various minority groups such as, white, black, or African American, Hispanic, or Latino, American Indian, or Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. Blacks, Hispanics, and some Asian populations, when compared with whites, appear to have lower levels of health insurance coverage, with Hispanics facing greater barriers to health insurance than any other group (Bulatao, 2004). Blacks and Hispanics are more likely to receive care in an emergency room and lack continuity of care. One factor that needs to be more consistently considered in studying racial and ethnic differences is the role of geography or residential area. Access to high-quality care varies considerably by area—by state, between rural and urban areas, as well as across smaller communities (Waidmann and Rajan, 2000; Wennberg and Cooper, 1999). Since racial and ethnic groups are unevenly distributed across communities, geographic variation in healthcare has the potential to explain some healthcare differences (Bulatao, 2004). Proverbs 22:2 reads, “Rich and poor have this in common: The Lord is the Maker of them all.” All minority groups deserve the best care, and the care shouldn’t be compromised because of various factors.
References
Bulatao, R. A. (2004). Health care. Understanding Racial and Ethnic Differences in Health in Late Life – NCBI Bookshelf. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK24693/
Proverbs 22:2 (NIV). (n.d.). Bible Gateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%2022%3A2&version=NIV
Shi, L., & Singh, D. A. (2019). Essentials of the U.S. health care system. https://openlibrary.org/books/OL22552128M/Essentials_of_the_U.S._health_care_system
