Disparity In Health Care

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The United States has been one of the world’s leading countries for decades by excelling in many aspects of the modern world, but one problem that still faces the nation today is improving its healthcare. Trillions of dollars being poured into the healthcare system has still not been able to fix the health disparities we see in America today. Racial and ethnic health disparities have been a part of American society since its creation. Increased research on the inequalities that occur in healthcare across different racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups has started to raise awareness of a much dangerous part of institutional racism we face in society. This is especially evident as we focus on certain minorities such as African Americans (Dressler …show more content…
The fact that racism is embedded into the institution of American society influences the way other people think and feel about certain minority groups, including African Americans, even if it is subconsciously. Such alterations of thinking and behavior contribute to racial health disparities both directly and indirectly. That is due to the psychological responses when faced with racism and discrimination. When an individual experiences stress, certain stress hormones like cortisol are released. Now when that same individual is experiencing that same stress over and over again, the long term activation of the response can disrupt all of the body’s processes and increase the risk of a variety of health problems. Problems including coronary diseases, obesity, depression; the same ones reported by the CDC. Research also shows that pathogenic factors linked to race continue to affect health even when socio-economic status is controlled (Pamuk 1998). Even African Americans who are able to make their way up to higher socio-economic class and education find themselves at more risk of health issues in comparison to whites that are in the same situation socioeconomically and education wise. An example comes from national data on infant …show more content…
Marino De Leon, a professor at Loma Linda University and the founder of newly created Loma Linda University School of Medicine Center for Health Disparities and Molecular Medicine (CHDMM). Dr. De Leon focuses his research on both eliminating health disparities and increasing diversity among the biomedical and physician workforce. Most significant is his work on stroke and heart disease, an epidemic that is very prominent among African Americans. “The most important part is to raise awareness of such issues among the African American community”, said Dr. De Leon. He further elaborated on how when an individual experiences stress due to racism and discrimination throughout his lifetime, the release of cortisol never ceases. The long-term activation of that stress response is what ultimately leads to numerous health problems. “An African American individual living in a poor community will most definitely experience racism in his lifetime: suspicious looks in stores, discrimination in the workplace, poor educational opportunities, it is something that creates a burden that the individual might not even notice at first.”, continued Dr. De Leon. He also further elaborated on the data given by Pamuk, explaining how racial differences in childhood socioeconomic status and early life social and economic adversity follow them into their adult life, contributing to the health disparities seen in African Americans
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