The United States healthcare system has been found to suffer from different shortcomings ranging from the manner in which the insurance cover works, to the manner in which individuals in different races are treated. Furthermore, the US over the years has been severely affected by the discrimination in different levels based on age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, to name but a few. In addition, many people have been denied health care, or have had their medical treatment withheld due to their ethnic status, or gender orientation. Therefore, as a result a number of surveys have been conducted in order to come up with an efficient system of eliminating these problems. Thus, in this research, the research wishes to explicate that disparities in heath care do actually exist, but even though they tend to be elusive, there are various strategies which when employed well could lead to reduced levels of disparities, and increased quality of healthcare. Concepts and Definition of Healthcare disparities
Healthcare Disparities: these relates to the differences, which exists regarding the quality of the healthcare that is given to individuals of different races, different ethnicities, socioeconomic groups, as well as sexual orientation (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2010). Hence, different groupings in society receive different values in terms of quality, of the healthcare services. In addition, healthcare disparities has been regarded by the Health Resources and Services Administration as the differences that emerge out of the various population classifications in terms of the manifestation of disease, health aftermaths, as well as the level to which people access healthcare services (Goldberg, Hayes, and Huntley, 2004).
Research Questions
The research aims at achieving answers to the following questions:
What is the nature of disparities in the United States?
What are the prevalent disparities in the delivery of healthcare services?
What is the impact of personal characteristics on the quality of and access to healthcare?
What are the key means to eliminating disparities that exist in the healthcare service?
Research Objectives
The general objective for the research is to find ways of eliminating healthcare disparities in the United States
Specific objectives are,
To find out the various forms of disparities in healthcare
To find out the problems the quality of healthcare disparities in the United States
To find out the greatly affected individuals in terms of healthcare disparities
Research Hypothesis
* Null Hypothesis
It is only through a combined effort that the prevalent health care disparities could be eliminated
* Alternate Hypothesis
Health care disparities cannot be eliminated even through combined efforts.
Significance/Purpose of study
The United States comprises of different groups of people both coming from different areas of the world. All these individuals quest for high-quality health care services, which have been discovered to exhibit differential outcomes in relation to different races. Therefore, this research is fundamental owing to the fact that the provision of efficient health care is a need for every one in the United States, like any other part of the world. Minorities suffer due to these problems.
Limitations of the study
This study is limited to secondary materials which have already been published hence no original sources used. It is further limited to the data collected in the US even though knowledge of other parts of the world have been critical to the development of this research
Healthcare Disparities in different Race
Disparity relates to the situation characterized by the absence of equity in terms of one's ranking, age, as well as degree; it actually point to inequity, divergence, inconsistency as well as difference (AHRQ, 2003). In addition, there is a close link between disparity in the healthcare services and equity. However, a number of differences do exist at the individual level. This includes the reception of less medication because of the level at which the disease under consideration is has reached. It could also be because of one's own choice to receive medication; due to systemic barriers towards the attainment of the necessary medication; it could be because of both factors, which have been outlined above (AHRQ, 2003).
Moreover, a prerequisite for the identification of disparities is the expected quality of service to be attained by patients (AHRQ, 2003). Nevertheless, the healthcare disparity that has been presented by the AHRQ operates under the assumption that its quality of effectiveness has been scientifically proven, by a professional justification that it can be provided to all the patients (AHRQ, 2003). Consequently, all patients have a right to quality healthcare, but in order for that to be attained, they need to have access to it. However, individuals' access to healthcare exhibits varying dimensions as regards to the probability to receive proper and effective care. Unfortunately, healthcare professionals have not yet attained conclusive decisions regarding the appropriate means of attaining quality uplifting. Furthermore, different races exhibit different features under consideration depending on the racial, ethnic, geographic, as well as socioeconomic groups, and depending on the validity of the assessing tool.
Besides, individuals have varying behaviors as a result of language barriers, cultural beliefs, differences in the predilection to quest for a timely healthcare, as well as the level to which individuals believe in the healthcare practitioners (AHRQ, 2003). On the other hand, even though individuals quest for healthcare services, they might be constrained by a number of factors, including, but not limited to, individuals' capacity to afford healthcare, one's geographical location, the way in which healthcare services is delivered, the attitude of the medical practitioner, as well as the level of uncertainty exhibited by individuals (AHRQ, 2003).
In addition, there are various individuals involved in the healthcare provision framework. And these individuals have varying outlook on the manner in which responsibility is to be divided ranging from the individual level, the private, as well as the public sectors level. Hence, this aspect possesses a strong challenge on the process of identifying the proper course of action from the parties that are involved. Moreover, the differences that exist in terms of quality of healthcare service to individuals are not constant but rather varying. Furthermore, differences, whether small or big, do not imply the urgency of the healthcare disparity. Hence, according to the Agency for Health Research Quality even a smaller disparity could imply an underlying urgent need to be addressed (AHRQ, 2003).
Well, a dire need to understand the impact of the characteristics of individual patients on the quality of healthcare emerges. In addition, it is very indubitable that individuals differ in terms of race, ethnicity, education, location, income, as well as age, to name but a few. According to the Agency for Health Research Quality report, it has been proofed that there is prevalent inequality in the quality of healthcare in the United States based on specific groups and specific circumstances (AHRQ, 2003). In addition, one needs to understand the underlying reasons for disparities, areas where disparities take place, as well as the manner in which these disparities take place.
Therefore, disparities have been found to affect minorities more that whites; that is, minorities such as African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, as well as Latinos (Goldberg, Hayes, and Huntley, 2004). Furthermore, Goldberg, Hayes, and Huntley, who continue to acknowledge the overwhelming impact of disparities more on minorities with huge incidences of prolonged diseases, greater rate of mortality, in addition to poor outcomes in terms of health (p.4), have also rightfully echoed this affirmation. For instance, cancer has been rated among the African Americans to be 10% more compared to incidences of it among the white population in the United States (American Public Health Association, 2004). Besides, a related incident has also been identified in relation to the impact o diabetes on adult African Americans as well as Latinos, who are seen to be twice risky than whites (American Public Health Association, 2004). Therefore, as it has been statistically observed, minorities stand to lose as far as healthcare disparity is concerned. This concern is further cited in cases of cardiovascular illnesses, infant mortalities, as well as in cases of HIV/AIDS, whereby the minorities have been found to experience increased incidences of the problems under this consideration than whites (Goldberg, Hayes, and Huntley, 2004, p.5).
According to Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation, many discussions have been in progress regarding the impetus for health disparities in line with ethnic as well as racial groupings (1999). Nevertheless, a consensus that unites all parties concerned in various debates about health disparities includes three major areas. Primarily, one are relates to the environmental as well as socioeconomic features of the various ethnic as well as racial classifications (Goldberg, Hayes, and Huntley, 2004, p.6). In addition to this is the understanding that people living in poor social conditions, exhibit a higher risk of obtaining poor quality healthcare; the same applies to poor economic condition individuals (Goldberg, Hayes, and Huntley, 2004, p.6). Secondly, some classifications of people meet up with various barriers in their due quest to access health care provision system (Goldberg, Hayes, and Huntley, 2004, p.6). Thirdly, it has also been cited out that different ethnic as well as racial classification groups do obtain different quality of health care based on their racial and ethnic origin (Goldberg, Hayes, and Huntley, 2004, p.7).
However, put aside the aforementioned causes of disparities, the most important need is to have an overview of the consequences that these disparities have on the affected individuals, both in terms of access, as well as in terms of the quality of health care attained. The same applies to ethnicity as well as racial disparities, in which there has been tremendous research on over the years. Therefore, it is important to note that the information regarding socio-economic health disparities is less prominent compare to the one on ethnicity and racial groups (Isaacs, Stephen, and Steven, 2004, p.1137).
What causes disparities in the level of access to health care? There are a number of factors that lead to disparities in the access individuals have towards health care, they include, but not limited to, the following; inadequate coverage in terms of insurance. In this case, it has been found out that people who lack access to insurance services end up postponing their access to medical services. They are also likely to ignore medical care, or use medicine without having to go for prescription, a scenario that has been observed more on minorities than on whites (Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, 2003). Another cause of disparity in access to health care results from the inadequacy of a steady source of care, which means individuals fail to access care, or visit doctors less often, or fail to access drug prescription; this incident has been observed more on minorities that on whites (Fryer, Dovey, and Green, 2000).
Next, minorities tend to have inadequate access to health care, compared to whites, based on their inadequacy to financial resources (Commonwealth fund, 1999). This is because individual with greater access to financial resources are whites, and not minorities, though some minorities too have financial endowment. In addition, legal barriers play significant role in determining individuals with access to healthcare. This is because public insurance packages tend to be limited only to individuals who have been in the United States for more than five years, and those who have not are denied Medicaid coverage (Goldberg, Hayes, and Huntley, 2004, p.10). Therefore, immigrants are more disadvantaged than citizens are, thus possessing higher levels of disparities are. Nevertheless, minorities also seem to be limited in their access to health care due to structural barriers, such as inadequate transportation facilities, as well as the failure to meet up with appointments to doctors, hence diminishing the readiness of minorities to obtain necessary healthcare (AHRQ, 2003).
Moreover, the health care workforce, according to statistics comprise of 4% African American physicians, and 5% Hispanic physicians, which implies that there is a inadequate diversity in these cultural groupings compared to the whites who are dominant; hence whites provide services, while minorities tend to be patients (Goldberg, Hayes, and Huntley, 2003, p.13). Thus, other factors include age, knowledge concerning health care, language barriers, as well as the low number of health care providers.
However, what causes disparities in the quality of health care? The prerequisite for effective treatment, as well as health care is proper communication between the provider and the patient. In addition, a proper communication channel surpasses race, because a bad communication can cause an incorrect diagnosis, wrong medication, as well as misinterpretation of health care provider instructions. In addition, the gravity of language barrier in the United States tend to affect non-English speakers compared to English speakers who will have a clear grasp of instruction. The same applies to communications between patients and care providers, in which case the former tend to be influenced by their cultural beliefs concerning Western medicine (Goldberg, Hayes, Huntley, 2004, p.14).
There are some cases where discrimination hinders the provision of quality health care. Most of these cases results from an unconscious or conscious disparity in the treatment of different services to different individuals based on their race and ethnicity. For instance, some serious operations might not be easily performed on minorities, but a number of researchers still tend to cite an underlying need to discover more explanations on the manner in which decisions are made by doctors. This owes to the fact that in some cases, some groups of diseases are based on ethnic backgrounds that are not taken into consideration in the process of decision-making (Smedley, and Nelson, 2002).
Research Design and Methods
This is an exploratory study, which analyses the various studies that have been conducted by scholars and professionals in this field of healthcare disparity. The main reasons for choosing exploratory study is due to the limitation that exists in terms of time as well as money. Second, this research comes because of numerous researches done on the area and wishes to find out the outcome of these researches. Furthermore, the research explores the various case studies that have been conducted in this field of health care. Besides, it also emphasizes on document analysis of the various historical as well as contemporary, public records, reports, government materials as well as opinions. Hence, the use of secondary data analysis has been observed to feature throughout the greater portion of this research.
The research is also structured in a manner that initially an introduction lays basis for the understanding of the concepts that relate to health care disparities in the United States. Consequently, the research questions are presented, and the main impetus for carrying out this research, including its relevance.
Conclusion and Recommendation
From the above discussions, it is very evident that health care disparities do exist, and that it is quite elusive to eliminate them. However, it is very important to take into consideration all factors such as medical, social, economic, as well as political issues that could be employed in order to achieve the Obama objective that relates to the attainment of affordable, high-quality system of health care delivery (Collen, 2010, p.93). Therefore, in order to achieve this goal, the research recommends that all relevant programs that are to be designed in order to reduce disparities should be evaluated extensively so that any shortcoming is dealt with accordingly. In addition, the health care workforce should be balanced in a manner that both the minority and majorities are well represented. Likewise, health care disparities should be eliminated with increased access to services to all racial and ethnic groups (McDonough, Gibbs, Scott-Harris, Kronebusch, Navarro, and Taylor, 2004). Consequently, all the relevant people in the health care system should be inclined towards the promotion of the quality of health care provision to the minorities.
Elsewhere, this research recommends the improvement of both organization as well as accommodation services so that an atmosphere of tranquility exists between the patients and the medical practitioners concerned. Regarding cultural disparities and discriminative attitudes, people should be encouraged to adopt themselves to understanding other cultures in order to enhance their level of tolerance in addition to increased appreciation of other cultures and beliefs (Brach & Fraser, 200). Finally, because one of the greatest problems that affect minorities is language barriers, hence the provision of interpreters in order to cater for foreign as well as those with hearing impairment should be given support from the government. Finally, the question of health care disparity has been addressed in detail both in terms of its nature, and in terms of the various ways, that disparity manifests itself in the health care sector. Finally, the researcher proceeded to providing reasoned recommendations and conclusions regarding the matter under consideration.
