Health Disparity

Health Disparity

Andy Boisjolie

Argosy University Online (AUO)

12/07/16

Abstract

Health disparity in the United States is an epidemic and the gap needs to be bridged. The ACA has begun to close the disparity, but many more initiatives need to be enacted to continue the positive trend for America’s lower socioeconomic communities.

Health Disparity

Review

The United States has typically looked for improvements in health care as a driver to creating positive health outcomes and overall health (Beyond health care: The role of social determinants in promoting health and health equity, 2015). The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was created to assist developing, improving and expanding the population’s access to healthcare and coverage and continuing to support all reforms in the delivery of that care (2015). While all of that is incredibly important to the success and positive transformation of the healthcare system, public health officials and researchers believe that social, environmental, and economic factors are required in a broad approach to influence healthcare successfully (2015).

These factors have recently received more acknowledgement to the factors of good health (2015). These three factors provide a more intricate focus on primary and prevention care that included the development of the National Prevention Council which had created a strategy that was instituted nationally (2015). Also, a major endorsement for the positive effects for testing which would create a new payment and delivery system (2015). A large increase of diversity in the workforce hiring is established along with many non-profit hospitals to continue conducting health assessments for communities in need (2015). These initiatives are growing at each level such as local, state, and national to continue addressing the large and broad aspects of health determinants and the focus and opportunities will continue to increase (2015).

Health Determinants

Communities and individuals run into quite a few factors that can affect health despite the healthcare expenditures reaching an astronomical three trillion dollars in the United States which is still behind other countries considered to be developed (2015). Researchers show that the United States and comparable Western countries both spend about the same amount of healthcare and social services, however, the United States spends much less on social services and healthcare gets a large percentage of the pie (2015). As public health officials have stated healthcare is extremely important to good health, but research has shown that it is an inadequate health detriment (2015). The statistics prove that negative behaviors such as poor diet, lack of exercise, and smoking are the highest determinants when it comes to early death among Americans (2015). The growing sentiment to the environmental, social, and economic factors have begun to take shape as the main opportunities for American barriers and opportunities to take part in behaviors of healthy living (2015).

Social determinants

Within social determinants looking at the condition of health are typically where individuals work, live, age, grow up, and where they are born, education, environment, occupation or employment, family or support network, socioeconomic status, and finally their access to proper healthcare (2015). Based on research of multiple studies completed by public health officials that education, social support, segregation, and poverty were the reason for over 30% of the total deaths each year for the United States (2015). The statistics also show that as income decreases the individual has more of chance of early death (2015). Less education is linked to lower incomes, higher smoking rates, as well as smaller life expectancies in the United States (2015). The trickledown effect is in play for those individuals whose parents who have lower education like those that did not finish high school (2015). These children have many negative barriers posed to them throughout their life such as poor housing, increased exposure to garbage, vandalism, and overall a higher percentage life in unsafe neighborhoods (2015). Statistics also show that these individuals do not have access to rec centers, libraries, parks, playgrounds, or even sidewalks which continues to negatively impact their health development (2015). Research is showing there is a direct correlation to poor health and stress across an individual’s life (2015). These stressors of growing up in high stress, lower income areas directly impacts that child’s future of economic success and opportunity (2015).

Social determinants addressed

Health disparity in the United States is a well-researched and highly acknowledged issue in which public health officials are continuing to look for answers (2015). As mentioned previously the more identified health disparities in the country are mostly affecting minorities, lower socioeconomic standings, low income, and any vulnerable area (2015). The Department of Health and Human Services and Healthy People 2020 define the disparities as those individuals that have a larger obstacle to good health based on race, ethnicity, mental health, gender, physical disability, sexual orientation, or essentially any group that has recognized discrimination historically (2015). Therefore, it is seen that the disparities are strongly rooted in environmental, social, and economic context that people live and work (2015). Healthy People 2020 define health equity as achieving the highest measure of health by addressing the environmental, social, and economic measures through target and broad based approaches to focus on minimizing the gap (2015).

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