By: Anthony Ciano
July 24, 2020
In the famous words of The New Colossus, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" (Emma Lazarus 1883). These words resonate among the millions of immigrants living within this country’s borders, yet remain powerless as thousands of people still lack the ability to receive fair medical treatment in the country with the best doctors. In a country claiming to be a refuge for those seeking freedom and equality, how can we turn our heads as people cashing in their rights as free Americans lack health insurance and equal care? The healthcare system in the United States has proven to be an issue for many Americans, especially when those Americans are people of color whom the system is automatically rigged against.
The economic injustice, lack of affordable healthcare, and miscommunication of people of color seeking healthcare in the U.S. has led to the mistreatment of these citizens and created rifts within the communities that call the United States home. Along with this, bias has led to the disproportionate quality of medical care within communities of color as well as unjust practices. Despite that certain communities do have longer life expectancies than their white counterparts, there still seems to be a strong connection with the quality of healthcare among people of color (POC) and overall life expectancy that favors white people. Economic and racial disparities, implicit bias, and substandard medical care have proven to be significant issues within the United States and have significantly affected the medical system for non-white communities.
Economic disparities contribute to the most significant lack of access to healthcare among communities of color. Minorities are more likely to hold lower-paying jobs that offer fewer healthcare benefits and hinder access to higher quality care (Williams et al. 2000). This creates a lack of affordable healthcare for minorities and makes it significantly more difficult for them to find quality healthcare. This lack of access to healthcare also decreases the chance at which many curable diseases can be detected and treated. Because one’s income plays such an important role in healthcare, your “Financial status directly impacts health status” (Schumaker 2015). Although socio-economic issues affect people of all backgrounds, people of color tend to experience these struggles more often as Hispanic, African American, and Native American poverty rates are over double the 8.1% white poverty rate (Semega J. et al. 2020). Because poverty rates are so high among these communities, educational resources are more limited and lead to further economic inequality, which again results in poor healthcare. Social factors resulting from economic disparities also can create greater racial disparities among individuals because lower-quality living conditions can result in greater health problems. Individuals dealing with housing instability tend to experience greater health problems, an issue that a disproportionate amount of people of color deal within their lives. There are many reasons why people of color tend to receive lower-quality healthcare services than white people, but without economic reform and high-quality healthcare given to people under the poverty line, these issues will continue to permeate American society.
Despite the lower quality of healthcare within communities of color, there seem to be higher rates of obesity, cardiac disease, and high blood pressure, which may very likely result in other significant health issues that may contribute to many of the diseases that these groups are disproportionately affected by. According to the CDC, people of minority backgrounds tend to consume less fruits and vegetables. Although communities of color tend to be less physically fit than other communities, the evident economic differences among white people and people of color do not allow for the same resources and foods many non-minority Americans consume, which lead to these communities to suffer disproportionately from these diseases. Economic disparities create an inaccessibility of health foods at reasonable prices for low-income people of color and warrant unhealthy eating habits that are a direct product of the environment that many people of color experience daily.
Although economic issues appear to be the driving factor among differences in medical treatment within the American healthcare system, racial disparities among Americans prove to be the reason as to why these economic disparities exist in the first place. People of color in the United States have continuously received poor quality healthcare services and are more likely to receive poor outcomes compared to white Americans (The Institute of Medicine 2002). The guise of time and societal progression has only made these issues even more urgent as the black-white health gap continues to widen with the staggering persistence. As recently as 2016, the infant mortality rate for black Americans more than doubled that of white Americans despite the claim of equality that the United States vehemently proclaims (CDC 2019). Even more shocking, black women in the United States are 243% more likely to die from childbirth-related causes than white women (Tucker et al. 2007), likely due to racially-based perceptions on how people of color experience pain by white physicians. Although any person can potentially be discriminated against, there seems to be a pattern of lower quality healthcare and higher mortality rates among people of color that display the disproportionality of good healthcare among different ethnic and racial groups within the United States.
Although health disparities exist within the United States, many people choose to consume unhealthy alternatives like fast-food that may severely affect one’s health if consumed frequently. Almost half of all African Americans and a third of Hispanic Americans eat fast food within a 24 hour period (Fryar et al.), which very likely leads these communities to suffer greater health complications. Although this may be the case, much of fast food marketing is directly targeted towards people of color, especially African Americans (Harris 2019). Targeting low-income communities of color in the United States creates greater health disparities among American communities because greater fast food consumption leads to poorer overall health. These racial disparities in marketing prove to display the bias that many companies hold while taking advantage of low-income people of color by hurting their health. Despite the fact that companies have the right to market their products to target likely consumers, the effects of these decisions create vast health gaps among Americans and further contribute to racial biases and stereotypes.
Because issues regarding race and healthcare are so damaging and prevalent in the United States, great initiative and reform must be pushed forward to solve these problems. Increases in ethnically and racially diverse physicians and healthcare providers would allow for greater treatment of patients and lower malpractice. Implementing more diversity in the medical field will lead to greater patient-centered care and lead to better overall health outcomes among people of color (Commonwealth Fund 2006). Because of the long history of using minorities for science experiments and biological materials, such as the Tuskegee syphilis study and the HeLa cell line being taken from a dying black woman at Johns Hopkins research hospital (Skloot 2010), there tends to be mistrust within communities of color that can only be solved through greater diversity among healthcare workers. Along with having more diverse healthcare professionals, more linguistically diverse professionals will also allow for greater communication and understanding between patients and physicians. Many expressions and sayings cannot be translated directly from language to language, so professionals who are familiar with several languages can more accurately and effectively treat patients with specific problems. Even a basic understanding of common second languages in the United States like Mandarin and Spanish can provide healthcare professionals with vital information regarding a patient’s health background. Usually coupled with linguistic knowledge is cultural knowledge that may also provide physicians with a greater understanding of the patient’s background. Understanding and familiarizing oneself with common diets and remedies used to treat illnesses within a given culture may give the healthcare provider insight on what the person is suffering from, as well as what the person may be feeling. Cultural and linguistic training of healthcare professionals would allow for treatment to become more specialized while still being cognizant that one’s cultural identity does not reflect their health or personal habits. Despite training and an increase in diversity within the medical field, screening must be enacted to stop racially motivated treatment within the healthcare system. Possible healthcare workers must be questioned and thoroughly investigated to best eliminate racial discrimination within healthcare. Individuals with racial biases must be either not hired or therapized for their prejudiced beliefs.
As a country, we must move past the color of one's skin and see the person for who they are. The American medical system has offered substandard care for people of color due to racial, economic disparities, and biases. People do not fit within boxes because of their race or cultural identity and must be treated as such. Although certain conditions may be prevalent within specific populations, there are likely other factors such as socioeconomic status that play an important role in those health conditions. Many of the issues that people of color face within the healthcare system can be prejudicial, yet there remain steps that the system may initiate to reduce racial bias in medicine. These issues are not confined by time, but in the fabric of the American healthcare system that can only be solved through knowledge and reform.
Works Cited
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CDC. (2018). Table 26. Normal weight, overweight, and obesity among adults aged 20 and over, by selected characteristics: United States, selected years 1988–1994 through 2013–2016. Retrieved July 22, 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/
Fryar, Cheryl, et al. Products - Data Briefs - Number 320 - September 2018. 30 Oct. 2018, www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db322.htm.
Harris, Jennifer, and Willie Frazier et al. “Increasing Disparities in Unhealthy Food Advertising Targeted to Hispanic and Black Youth.” Rudd Report, Jan. 2019.
Schumaker, E. (2015, June 29). The Quality Of Health Care You Receive Likely Depends On Your Skin Color. Retrieved July 21, 2020, from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/racial-inequality-health-care-black-v-white_n_7164140
Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks. New York : Crown Publishers, 2010. Print.
Semega, J et al. (2020) Income and Poverty in the United States: 2018. United States Department of Commerce. Retrieved July, 21, 2020
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