Health and health care disparities refer to the variation in health and health care between populations. Disparities in health care have been a long-standing problem. As a result, groups receive less and lower quality health care than other groups. The aftereffects of this diversity are poorer health outcomes; it should be noted that these disparities not only affect the group facing them but also limit comprehensive reformations and improvement in the quality of health care for the wider population, which leads to more expenses and unnecessary costs. The population is becoming more disparate, and it’s becoming more vital that health disparities are addressed.
According to BLACKSHER (2008), disparities occur across many dimensions with respect to socioeconomic status. One of these dimensions is said to be one of the leading causes of health disparities. If the health disparities challenge were to be addressed, it would be by reducing socioeconomic status-caused disparities. Socioeconomic status underlies the three major factors in health. These factors include environmental exposure, healthcare, and health behaviour; social and economic status is also linked to morbidity and mortality.
To reduce socioeconomic disparities in health, policies addressing the ingredients of socioeconomic status, which are income, education, and education, need to be formulated. Policy initiatives should focus on reducing disparities caused by these components of social status. The Acheson Commission formulated a good example of such policy approaches in England (Lopez, 2012). The commission had a mandate of reducing health disparities in Britain. The commission was charged with addressing inequality in education, income, and occupation and coming up with policies that reduced the gap between the health haves and have-nots.
Whether gauged by income, occupation, or education, socioeconomic status is associated with many health problems, not to mention birth weight, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, arthritis, cancer, and diabetes (Hutchison, 2007). Lower socioeconomic status is linked with higher mortality, and most disparities happen in middle adulthood. A recent study from Canada showed higher mortality among people who earned less had less education and had lower occupational status some of the diseases that caused their deaths could be treated, this study provides an overview of health and health care disparities and their effects.
In a detailed analysis of the “actual causes” of death. J. Michael McGinnis and William Foege estimated that some deaths in the U.S. are caused by factors such as diet and lack of activity, tobacco, and tobacco. The dual noted that allocation and distribution of health resources did not compliment the importance of these factors, few resources were allocated to modify these factors .people who ranked lower in the socioeconomic status hierarchy die from diseases caused by these factors. The U.S. government should redesign health resource allocation to ensure universal coverage regardless of the socioeconomic status of an individual. Health inequality should be addressed by providing all-inclusive coverage. The focus should be on the implementation of laws if health inequality is to be eliminated (Van Schaik, 2014).
While major strides have been made to reduce health inequalities, and efforts have been made to provide universal coverage. It’s important to note that policy strategies alone won’t eliminate the longstanding issue of health inequality; underlying dominant forces such as incidence of disease, toxic exposure, and injury should also be addressed. If health disparities are to be eliminated, giving them policy attention is not enough. We should focus not only on policy formulation but also on enforcement.
References
BLACKSHER, E. (2008). Healthcare Disparities: The Salience of Social Class. Cambridge Quarterly Of Healthcare Ethics, 17(02). http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0963180108080171
CME Questions: Healthcare Disparities. (2006). Southern Medical Journal, 99(9), 963-964. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/01.smj.0000208372.98250.6b
Hutchison, B. (2007). Disparities in Healthcare Access and Use: Yackety-yack, Yackety-yack. Healthcare Policy | Politiques De Santé, 3(2), 10-18. http://dx.doi.org/10.12927/hcpol.2007.19387
Lopez, L. & Campbell, E. (2012). Healthcare Disparities at the Crossroads With Healthcare Reform. JAMA, 308(24), 2629. http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.308.24.2629-a
Van Schaik, E., Howson, A., & Sabin, J. (2014). Healthcare Disparities. Mededportal Publications. http://dx.doi.org/10.15766/mep_2374-8265.9675
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