One of the most prevalent and pervasive social issues in the United States today is the provision of equal access to health care for the impoverished. Far too many people live in conditions of poverty and struggle to find the means by which to meet their basic needs. For those without insurance, access to medical care is often preempted by other necessities. An unexpected medical expense can push this group further into poverty. Those who do have insurance may find themselves underinsured in the event of an emergency and unable to make the necessary co-payments. Alternatively, the insured’s provider may refuse to cover certain conditions. Besides the cost of adequate insurance and the booming cost of medical care, there are other factors that affect equal access to medical care for the impoverished. Among these are race, age, and geographic location. Poverty and the resulting inadequate medical care is a ubiquitous social problem that merits further discussion of the issue’s causes and implications. In recent years racial disparities in health status have received increasing attention. The relationship between race, poverty, and health is complex. Something to consider is that people suffering from mental illness and members of minority racial populations are disproportionately concentrated in high-poverty areas.(Chun-Chung Chow) Disparities in health status in these areas are believed to reflect a lack of access to care because of an absence of insurance coverage, a tendency to attribute certain health concerns to religious and culturally sanctioned belief systems, and a shortage of culturally compatible health care providers. (Chun-Chung Chow) Because of the lesser access to medical treatments Blacks and Hispanics ... ... middle of paper ... ...family status of individuals. For example, poor Blacks have a low level of psychological well-being in urban areas and a high level of well-being in rural areas. The opposite is true for Whites. The location and distribution of white people across urban environments tend to be more scattered than that of Blacks. This leads to a decreased likelihood of poor Whites experiencing the problems found in inner-city neighborhoods characterized by substandard housing, inferior schools, and high crime rates. Blacks living in rural areas, although problematic in some ways, likely experience less stress on a day-to-day basis than their urban counterparts. Although poverty is typically associated with lower general well-being, its implications do not appear to be distributed by location while also demonstrating that poverty is not a homogeneous experience for individuals.
The author also briefly demonstrates in Chapter 11 how healthcare programs fail the poor. She mentions the high medical costs of antirejection drugs and how Medicare refuses to cover costs after a year. This is not a main argument of the chapter but an important one. The goal of Chapters 10
Visiting the doctor has never been viewed as an enjoyable experience for clients. It is likely considered to be a necessary evil, something that must be done but is not pleasantly anticipated. Making the encounter between health care professional and client both helpful and therapeutic can be a challenge. This is especially true for those whose financial situation is precarious, meaning, one pay check away from being homeless. So not only does the client arrive for their scheduled appointment with the normal anxiety visiting the doctor brings; added to this is fear of a serious diagnosis, and the stress of finding the funds to pay for medical services, medications, and any follow-up visits that may be required. The extra expenses will put a greater strain on an already overburdened family budget. The first hint of the client’s tenuous financial position should be gleaned from the helping interview.
All minority groups experience discrimination which leads to increased levels of stress in those individuals. As the level of stress goes up, so does the risk for several health complications including those related to mental health. Wells, Klap, Koike, and Sherbourne (2001) conducted a study examining the disparities in mental health care among black, Hispanic, and white Americans. Of those Hispanics in the study (n=617), 16.6% of them had a probable mental disorder compared to 13.4% of whites (n=7,299). Hispanics also had a higher incidence of substance abuse problems with 9% of those surveyed meeting criteria compared to 7.6% of whites. Hispanics also had the least reported perceived need for treatment with 10.4% for mental health and only 1.3% for substance abuse. A clinician treating Antonio should keep in mind that he has a higher likelihood of having a mental illness or substance use disorder than a white client as well as the fact that if he does meet the criteria for either, that he probably does not believe he needs
In this paper, I examine the ways in which living in poverty negatively impacts the health of African-Americans, based on the ethnographic family history and study of health care policy recounted by Laurie Kaye Abraham in Mama Might Be Better Off Dead: The Failure of Health Care in Urban America. I will focus first on the barriers that poverty creates to health care on a structural and personal level. I will then discuss how the unique stresses of poverty construct specific behavioral and emotional patterns which reinforce systemic problems to exacerbate poor health outcomes.
Mental health disparities, “the power imbalances that impact practices influencing access, quality, and outcomes of behavioral health care, or a significant disparity in the overall rate of disease incidence, prevalence, morbidity, mortality, or survival rate in a specific group of people defined along racial and ethnic lines, as compared with the general population” (Safran, 2011). Although there are many mental health care dipartites, I’m going to focus on the impact of poverty and lack of attention given to mental health. By advocating for a prevention, promotion, and intervention related to mental health, will aid in minimizing mental health disparities. Not only is it important to advocate on a macro level, but it is important to educate
Does every citizen have the right to have access to basic health care in the wealthiest country of the world? The current healthcare system in America has many inequalities in the access, quality, and cost of healthcare among different economic groups of people. In addition, it would be more beneficial to give citizens access to preventative care that could avoid health issues by addressing them early on, while they are still manageable. Siegfried Karsten (1995), professor of economics at West Georgia College, brings up a valid argument in the American Journal of Economics and Sociology when he questions whether “society really can afford not to cover all people…..is it economically and politically rational to continue to have millions of people develop serious health problems, at great costs to society……because they are financially unable to obtain the necessary medical care when it does them the most good?” (p.138). The cost of healthcare in America is a deterrent to lower income groups who cannot afford insurance, or even if they have insurance, hesitate to seek treatment due to deductibles and copays.
Williams, D. R., & Jackson, P. (2014, April 1). Health Affairs. Social Sources Of Racial Disparities In Health. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/24/2/325.short
Samaan, R. A. (2000). The Influences of Race, Ethnicity, and Poverty on the Mental Health of Children. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 100-110.
Mental health care disparities can be rooted in inequalities in access to good providers, differences in insurance coverage, or discrimination by health professionals in the clinical encounter (McGuire & Miranda, 2008). Surely, those who are affected by these disparities are minorities Blacks and Latinos compare to Whites. Due to higher rates of poverty and poor health among United States minorities compared with whites. Moreover, the fact that poverty and poor health are
Positive rights are rights that everyone is entitled to including: the right to a public education, access to public roads, and the right to health care. There are no guarantees when it comes to life, but having health insurance makes a huge difference with preventing, diagnosing, and treating diseases. Of course having insurance itself is a great resource to ensure medical care and containing costs, but not all insurance programs are created equal. Insurance programs have caveats, exclusions, varying co-payments, and access to certain doctors and hospitals, which creates an ethical dilemma. Receiving the best care is subjective in most cases, but with money you can buy almost anything, including the best care. Although those living in poverty are given access to healthcare, that does not mean they receive the best or equal care as those who are wealthy.
The constitution of the World Health Organization states that “The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition” (Koh and Nowinski 2010 pp 949). One would hope that this sentiment would also include the low income women of our society, however it has become a harsh reality amongst poverty stricken women that fair and affordable health care is difficult to provide for themselves and for their families. Women with an income below the federal poverty level are at a higher risk of being uninsured or under insured than the general population (Legerski, 2012). The inability to acquire adequate health insurance both privately offered and state funded, in particular can be a serious barrier to low income women's ability to seek health care (Magge, 2013). Furthermore poverty can cause some women to engage in dangerous “street involvement” causing health care providers to act with unjust prejudice in regard to their health care (Bungay, 2013). This paper will attempt to further address and justify these broad statements regarding low income women and their relationship to health care. It makes the argument that if we must see the highest attainable standard of health care as a fundamental human right than by not safeguarding our society’s impoverished women from these trials and tribulations are we not, as a country making a concession that low income women are less worthy or these rights?
According to the data given, by CTISP Community Survey 2010 by a Central Texas Region, Health care has a direct correlation to a person’s income or lack thereof. Table 1 displays a graph of respondents to a community survey about Health Care Coverage. The graph contains income amounts from $15,000 to $85,000 and percentages of people who do not receive coverage based on their income. The graph shows the lower the income the less likely to afford coverage. Table 2 displays, of those who took the survey their reasons for having no Coverage. The reason with the highest percentage was “could not afford prem...
African-Americans make up approximately 13% of the United States population according to U.S. Census (2001). However, despite representing 13% of the population there is misrepresentation in mental health services for African-American people. We know that research has shown many different indications to explain the lack of representation. Poverty is one of the many explanations given, U.S. census data for the 13.1% of the U.S. population identifying themselves as African American, the poverty rate in 2012 was 27.2%. This poverty rate compares with a 9.7% poverty rate for non-Hispanic Whites (Snowden, 2014). Another study explain treatment differences between African-Americans and European American, according to Schwartz & Feisthamel (2009)
Health insurance facilitates entry into the health care system. Uninsured people are less likely to receive medical care and more likely to have poor health. Many Americans are foregoing medical care because they cannot afford it, or are struggling to pay their medical bills. “Adults in the US are more likely to go without health care due to cost” (Schoen, Osborn, Squires, Doty, & Pierson, 2010) Many of the currently uninsured or underinsured are forced accept inferior plans with large out-of-pocket costs, or are not be able to afford coverage offered by private health insurers. This lack of adequate coverage makes it difficult for people to get the health care they need and can have a particularly serious impact on a person's health and stability.
The United States being the strongest economy in the world with more than enough resources to aid its citizens shows great social inequity notably in health care. While some people can afford great quality health care, others simply cannot access adequate treatments. America’s fractured health care insurance system is often seen as the medium for providing access to appropriate services for some while being grossly inadequate for others. People who cannot afford health care coverage are often the same people who need health care treatment the most. Another important factor to consider is the financial hardship and personal ruin that people can experience when having an unexpected accident or illness that can be very costly to attend simply