Racism in Health-care Essay

Healthcare systems are microcosms of the larger society in which they exist. Where there is structural violence or cultural violence in the larger society, so will there be evidence of systematic inequities in the institutions of these societies. The healthcare system in Australia is one example—from a plethora of similarly situated healthcare systems—in which the color of a patient’s skin or the race of his parents may determine the quality of medical received. Life expectancy and infant mortality rates are vastly different for non-Aboriginal, Aboriginal, and Torres Strait Islanders residing in Australia. The life expectancy of Aboriginal men is 21 years shorter than for non-Aboriginal men in Australia. For women, the difference is

In this paper, I will argue that the healthcare system has responsibility in taking care of the racism that is apparent in this system. First and foremost, the word “racism” must be defined in order to prevent confusion on the line of reasoning in this argument. According to Camara Jones’s framework that was developed to highlight how racism can lead to health disparities, there are two levels of racism that will be looked at: institutionalized racism and personally-mediated racism. Institutionalized racism, defined as “differential access to goods, services, and opportunities by race, includes differential access to health insurance”. What is significant to note is that institutional racism does not require personal bias commonly associated

Although most American citizens today associate racial and ethnic disparities in public health care quality with socioeconomic status, a majority of studies performed conclude that these discrepancies are still highly prevalent when the factor of one’s socioeconomic status is taken out of the equation. Health disparities for a certain minority result in a higher number of illness, injury, and even mortality for that race or ethnicity in comparison to white Americans; therefore, health care disparities can be defined as differences between groups in health coverage, specifically focusing on both the quality and access to care. The Office of Management and Budget has created two ethnic categories for all American citizens to fit into, being either

Disparities in healthcare are a real and urgent problem in our nation. There is indisputable data supporting the fact that disparities exist not only across different racial groups, but also across the cultural and economic stratification of our society. Moreover, there is even data showing disparities among each of these respective groups along gender lines. So what can be done about these disparities to assure that all patients receive equal and adequate care? Well, there are certainly many political and governmental changes or modifications that would go a long way towards narrowing the gaps in healthcare, but such changes are beyond the scope of this paper. Instead, I will focus on the steps that I,

The disparities are around us every day and unless we educate ourselves and our communities these disparities will continue to wreak havoc on our neighborhoods and in the future, we will just be putting our kids and their kids in a continuing cycle of ignorance when we could have done more if it’s just educating the community we leave in, that alone could be enough to turn the tides in our people favor. In turn, I would hope this paper enlighten you on what is going on in our neighborhood and what we can do to correct this issue to preserve our autonomy. Racial and ethnic health disparities undermine what a healthcare system should stand for. Although the top three causes and seven of the 10 leading causes of death are the same for African Americans and whites, the risk factors and incidence, morbidity, and mortality rates for these diseases and injuries often are greater among blacks than whites (MMWR, 2005). Health disparities refer to differences in disease risks, incidence, morbidity, and mortality but most of all for the sake of this paper unequal access to quality health insurance amongst African American in the United States, which will also go hand and hand with the social and economic disadvantages. The disadvantages of health disparities usually affect people of African American descent who have systemically experienced a greater social and economic obstacle to health care.

Today, one of the leading problems discussed in politics is healthcare. America constantly struggles with their healthcare system to make it affordable and accessible to communities. In the twentieth century this same problem also existed, creating one of the most well-known African American activist groups in America. In the book Body and Soul by Alondra Nelson, it discusses the social inequalities of the healthcare system in America and how the Black Panther Party fought against medical discrimination for African Americans. Nelson talks about how the Black Panther Party went from the role of protecting black citizens to a larger political role in African American health care. The significance of this book applies to medical sociology in many ways and is essential to the understanding of providing better healthcare to future generations. In the following book review, it includes a summary of each chapter to highlight the main points, some of the very many medical sociology concepts that could be applied, and lastly an evaluation of the book as a whole and its significance to our course.

Health disparities among African-Americans is a continuing problem that has been seen over many years. African-Americans have higher poverty rates, have lower rates of insurance coverage, and are more likely to be covered by Medicaid, than the White population (Copeland, 2005). This lack of insurance has led many of these individuals, to not seek treatment for illness, due to problem accessing health care (Kennedy, 2013). This leaves African-Americans with little to no treatment, which causes an increase of medical care that will be needed further on in their life or a sooner than expected death, caused by illness (Copeland, 2005).

In recent discussions of health care disparities, a controversial issue has been whether racism is the cause of health care disparities or not. On one hand, some argue that racism is a serious problem in the health care system. From this perspective, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) states that there is a big gap between the health care quality received by minorities, and the quality of health care received by non-minorities, and the reason is due to racism. On the other hand, however, others argue that health care disparities are not due to racism. In the words of Sally Satel, one of this view’s main proponents, “White and black patients, on average don’t even visit the same population of

In 2003, the Institute of Medicine published a report outlining potential steps to work towards eliminating healthcare disparities, by suggesting a strategic approach by addressing the challenges within the health care systems, the federal and state legislative context in which they operate, clinicians and their patients (Betancourt JR, King RK, 2003). The intended goals of reducing and eliminating healthcare disparities, has continually been an agenda item for policy makers over the past few decades, but there has been no significant change. The root of the segregated mindset which implies minorities should be treated as lesser class humans is a part of American history and because of this, it is America’s responsibility to eliminate it(William D,

An ideology or a belief system toward a group of people usually originates from economic need for labor and the distribution of resources. Who will provide the labor with little reward and who will benefit from that labor with little manual labor characterizes many cultural dynamics and institutions. Racism, especially in the U.S., isn’t exempt from this construction, for races is a social construction emerging from power fluctuations that results in an unequal resource distribution. Racial ideology provides reason for the race illusion and in turn strengthens it enough for it to become subtle and seemingly fundamental to American policy, both public and private. The three-part film RACE: The Power of an Illusion, an anthropology textbook Cultural Anthropology: A Toolkit for a Global Age written by Kenneth Guest, Leith Mullings’ article Trayvon Martin, Race, and Anthropology, and Elson Boles’ entry Ruth Benedict’s Japan: the Benedictions of Imperialism all give voice historically and scientifically to explain, not justify, and hopefully inspire the public to work to erase racial prejudice. All of these works expose contemporary American society’s discrimination to combat the “color-blind” ideology that

The government funds healthcare for many demographics in the U.S . . the access to healthcare ranges in care from racial background and ethnics. Hispanics are less likely to receive healthcare coverage because of the demographics. Hispanics may not be able to afford healthcare as to why they do not receive it. Language barriers between Caucasian’s and physicians may hinder diagnosis of conditions. Caucasians are less likely to get checked for colon cancer or high blood pressure from a healthcare provider. African American is usually checked for this disease. African Americans are more likely to have one of these diseases so being checked by a phycians is common. Individuals that live in neighborhoods that are less fortunate do not know information

“Race is an artificial social construction rooted in the structural dynamics of exploitation, power and privilege that was forced upon original residents of colonies at the outset of the expansion of European capitalism.” (Marable) For most Americans, present day America still remains segregated as a result of discrimination which throughout history has been used in a direct behavior against African-American people. Race according to Marable is an artificial construction, however, its impacts are real and devastating as it stops the American nation from maximizing its potential, by discriminating most of the times against the best suited candidates in various fields. When coupled with social anarchy resulting from racism, it marks the political tension in the community. ‘Many scholars have argued that race is a critical element in the formation of political ideology,’ (Rueter) and it can be backed by evidence from the on-going US presidential race in 2016 for both Democrats and Republicans where race serves as the issue which would play role in determining the 45th US

When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans a couple months ago the citizens of this country were bombarded with questions on race playing a responsibility of the survivors that were stranded for days to soon be plucked from their rooftops. These people who were living paycheck to paycheck did not have the same resources of the wealthy. They most likely had no insurance, no stable extended family that could lend them a house to stay or even a job to return to after the storm. The majority of New Orleans is African American and also in poverty and although it has been an uncomfortable subject to discuss it seems that if these people would have had the help to flee the city or been able to afford transportation to escape

In my division ii, I took a gradute level global health course which broadened my knowlege about many other different cultures and races. In this class I wrote numerous papers about racism in the public health system. I also took other courses such as Race and Ethnicity, Student Peer Leadership and Facilitation,Immigration and Identity,Social Problems that taught me about racism,sexism and classism. These classes informed me of the world around me and allowed me to make my opinions and suggestions.

Lower aces to health care and the quality of care once in the system for minority groups are examples of privilege and power. Depending on race, minorities have less medical care coverage as opposed to non- Hispanic