Racial Inequality Still Exists in Health Care
photo credit: PhotocapyWe all like to think that we as a nation are moving more and more every day toward a state of complete equality. Unfortunately, we still have a long way to go. Parts of this country still battle racism, class, and culture wars when it comes to health insurance coverage.
New studies are showing a strong correlation between your race, health insurance, and the likelihood of surviving a serious injury. This may seem like something that shouldn’t correlate at all - what does one’s race have to do with their ability to survive something like a gunshot wound? Aren’t all bodies and people created equally? Read on for the interesting and upsetting facts.
Racial Disparities
Researchers studying this poured over nearly 310,000 records of trauma patients, noting the patient’s race, age, severity and type of injury, insurance status, and mortality. According to an article speaking to this issue in The New York Times, “after controlling for severity of injury and other factors, [the study] found that, compared with whites, African-Americans had a 17 percent increased risk of death and Hispanics a 47 percent increased risk.”
Digging a little deeper, researchers were able to discover when they looked at the factor of health insurance, that insured African-Americans had a 20 percent higher risk of death compared with insured whites, and Hispanics a 51percent higher risk of death.
Some Analysis Behind the Statistics
I think that many people would assume, just looking at the first set of statistics, that the reason that minorities and the uninsured have a higher risk of mortality than whites do is simply because they do not have any access to health insurance. This might make sense, if you consider the factors of gentrification and how minority groups are often relegated to certain, less well-off areas of major metropolitan cities. The same areas have higher crime rates and trauma centers at hospitals that aren’t equipped properly.
Let’s pretend there is a man named Joe. Joe is a Hispanic male, age 35. He works at a local video store, but because he doesn’t have a college degree, he can’t find a higher paying job. He and his family share a small apartment in a lower-income area of their city, and because his wife can’t find a job, the couple isn’t available to afford health insurance for themselves or their two children. As such, they are all constantly in a state of less than ideal health. Because they cannot afford regular doctors visits, the family has weakened immune systems that constantly make them susceptible to colds and the flu. They are not able to get their children in to see a pediatrician, and can’t afford as much healthy foods as should be contributing to their children’s growth and well being.
One night when walking home from work, Joe is caught in the middle of a shooting happening between two rival gangs. He is critically injured, and whisked away to the nearest trauma unit. The trauma team is unable to save Joe’s life, and he passes away. What is the main contributing factor to his death? Lack of health insurance? General state of health? Income level? Ethnicity? it would be difficult to pinpoint one definitive cause, but it should seem clear as day that all of these factors are deeply entrenched with one another, and a scenario like Joe’s is a lot more common than we would like to believe.
Ways to Turn The Statistics Around
How can we stop minorities and the uninsured population from flirting with death every time they enter through those trauma room doors? Addressing this issue has to start at the core. If the uninsured as more likely to die, minorities or not, then there needs to be health insurance available to everyone. Whether this happens through the controversial “universal health care approach” or providing more medical options for those living in lower income areas, health care needs to be made available to everyone living in this country.
If there is more violence and likelihood of injury in certain parts of a city, then more money should be funneled to hospitals and trauma centers in those areas. A person’s race should not be a factor in their ability to survive a horrific injury, and it can all be taken care of with making sure each person in America receives the health care and insurance they need.
