The topic of racial and ethnic differences in healthcare is one of the key importance to address in medical sociology. The problem is that minority populations, both globally and in the United States, are not receiving the proper healthcare they need to survive and treat health problems and diseases that arise. The idea of this is very confusing and frustrating to me since I feel that everyone should have the basic right to receive healthcare, health insurance, and treatment for any health-related problem. Further, I feel that when looking at this problem you can start by analyzing it on the global level and where the disparities in healthcare and coverage are seen, but then I looked deeper into where the disparities exist in the United States alone. It’s in the US that we see such great disparities between populations of majority and minority in not just the healthcare received but also the level of care that can be afforded and the quality of care that is given. This problem needs to be addressed in order for it to be fixed and equal for all populations.
Disparities in the quality, affordability, and presence of healthcare for minority populations is a problem that needs to be addressed and solved. On a global level, this problem is manifested on a few different levels. One problem is that populations in low-income nations don’t have adequate healthcare since they lack the equipment and personnel to handle higher volumes of cases that come up (Barkan, 2017). Further, the populations of these countries aren’t getting access to the healthcare they need, but also are going to have issues affording it when they can find it. The second problem is that since they can’t afford the care in their own country if they try to get it somewhere outside of the country, where a higher quality of care may exist, they lack the ability to travel, whether because of cost, availability, or timing (Johnston, 2010). Another reason why this is an issue globally is that diseases that should be curable, like the flu or the common cold, are the causes of many deaths because of the differences and disparities seen in healthcare, and further, there are health problems caused by things that shouldn’t be as big of a problem like environment-related health consequences (Barkan, 2017). I feel as though these things are reasons why this is a problem on the global level. Of greater concern to me is what happens in the United States.
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A major problem in the United States is the disparity in the quality, availability, and cost of healthcare. I feel the main issue that has to be addressed is related to the inability of minority populations to access and afford healthcare. People are not given a proper chance to receive the healthcare they need to survive, whether it’s because they don’t have enough to cover the costs of doing so, or the technologies and ways to help them aren’t offered or considered. I think social inequality has a lot to do with this. Social inequality involves the unequal distribution of wealth related to race and ethnicity, and because of this, lower-SES populations are getting worse healthcare than wealthier people (Barkan, 2017). I think the problem of disparities in healthcare among minority populations based on race and ethnicity needs to be solved.
In terms of the problem I’ve outlined, I feel that there are three main social causes. In general, minority populations are more likely to work in stressful work conditions and live in polluted areas, things that have great consequences on their health. Further, differences in socioeconomic status are reflected in the ethnic-racial differences in that people of color suffer from a ‘double jeopardy’ in that they have a worse quality of health from both their lower social class and their race and ethnicity. The first social cause I feel is important to understanding and explaining the problem is that people of color receive inadequate medical care because of their lack of health insurance and the bias that is seen in the healthcare system. Another social cause I think is important to the problem is the poorer nutrition seen in minority populations, whether it’s because of a lack of available healthy foods or cultural dietary norms since diet is a key player in a person’s health, well-being, and healthcare. A final social cause I think is important is racial segregation. Racial segregation plays a role because the lower quality of health is correlated with people in highly segregated a
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