Health disparities
lead to approximately $93 billion in excess medical care costs and $42 billion in lost productivity per year as well as economic losses due to premature deaths
. For example, as of 2018, Latinx individuals are two-and-a-half times more likely to be uninsured than whites (19% vs. 7.5%).
What are health disparities and how do they affect your health?
Health disparities are
preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged populations
.
What are three of the consequences of health disparities?
At a micro-level, health disparities rob individuals of good health and their sense of well-being and personal security. They deprive communities of human resources and money. They
drive up costs, decrease productivity, and diminish the quality of life for everyone
.
Why is health disparities an issue?
Many factors contribute to health disparities, including genetics, access to care, poor quality of care, community features (e.g., inadequate access to healthy foods, poverty, limited personal support systems and violence), environmental conditions (e.g., poor air quality), language barriers and health behaviors.
What are some examples of health disparities?
- Mortality.
- Life expectancy.
- Burden of disease.
- Mental health.
- Uninsured/underinsured.
- Lack of access to care.
Why are health disparities important to public health?
Health disparities are differences in health outcomes and their causes among groups of people.
Reducing health disparities is a major goal of public health
. Achieving health equity, eliminating disparities, and improving the health of all U.S. population groups is one of the goals ofHealthy People 2020 .
What are the 7 health disparities?
Race or ethnicity, sex, sexual identity, age, disability, socioeconomic status, and geographic location
all contribute to an individual’s ability to achieve good health.
What are racial disparities in healthcare?
The Institute of Medicine defines disparities as “
racial or ethnic differences in the quality of health care that are not due to access-related factors or clinical needs, preferences, and appropriateness of intervention
.” Racial and ethnic minorities tend to receive poorer quality care compared with nonminorities, even …
How does health disparity affect the elderly?
For example, overall
women live longer than men, but are more likely to develop osteoporosis or depressive symptoms or to report functional limitations as they age
; men, on the other hand, are more likely to develop heart disease, cancer, or diabetes.
How does ethnicity affect health inequalities?
Race reduces health disparities to biological factors, thereby marginalising the social forces that are overwhelmingly the main causes for health inequalities among different groups
. Focusing on race directs attention at individuals rather than unequal social relationships that cause ill health.
Social determinants of health such as
poverty, unequal access to health care, lack of education, stigma, and racism
are underlying, contributing factors of health inequities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is committed to achieving improvements in people’s lives by reducing health inequities.
How can we solve health disparities?
- Raising public and provider awareness of racial/ethnic disparities in care;
- Expanding health insurance coverage;
- Improving the capacity and number of providers in underserved communities; and.
- Increasing the knowledge base on causes and interventions to reduce disparities.
