Disparities in Healthcare as a Result of systematic Racism
Health care in the United States is not made equally for everyone. A large chunk of Americans cannot afford health care and those that do have health care, often do not have health care that adequately covers and meets their needs. This is especially true for Black Americans who face disparities in health care that have lasting negative impacts on their day-to-day lives. Black Americans face specific social determinants of health that are outside of their control due to the health conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age. Social determinants of health are based on how supported an individual is in the areas of economic stability, physical environment, education, food, social systems, and health care access. For example, if a person does not live in a safe neighborhood with availability to parks, playgrounds, and public transportation, their health status will fluctuate and the risk of unwanted adverse effects will increase (Kaiser, 2018). Social determinants of health are directly related to health outcomes such as mortality, morbidity, life expectancy, health care expenditures, health status, and functional limitations. This model developed by Michael Marmot and Richard Wilkinson shows how closely connected living conditions, that people don’t have control over, are related to their expected health outcomes and why it is so important to work towards improving health care and reducing health disparities.
An article by the American Bar Association (2017) found that physician racial bias is directly correlated to Black people being more sick and dying younger compared to White people. There are negative biases present when it comes to the narratives about racial minorities in the health-care community. These biases can prevent people from getting sufficient health care they need, such as in the care of Black people not as likely to be prescribed pain medication compared to their White counterparts (Bridges, 2017). This idea is fueled by physicians not believing their patients and minimizing their experiences because they believe that minorities possess different pain receptors and are exaggerating or making up their experiences for attention. When there is lack of cultural competency, the quality of care suffers.These thought processes are far from true and extremely hurtful to these communities who are already underserved and underrepresented in medical research and diagnosis.
Here is a recent example of how segregated health care produces discriminatory policies and procedures, specifically in the case of how COVID-19 affected South Atlanta, a predominantly Black community. COVID-19 killed Black Americans at a rate 2.3 times higher than White Americans. Not having equal access to health resources, such as testing sites and health-care facilities, is due to South Atlanta being a medically underserved area in comparison to North Atlanta, being a wealthier and whiter area with adequate access to resources (Wise, 2020). We see a clear racial identification process in health care between how White people are cared for vs how people of color are cared for, and it is evident that health-care providers see patients as either Black or White. This is harmful because it allows for doctors to treat their patients differently in a scientifically inaccurate way based on perceived race. A physician, for instance, may test a White and Black person differently even if they present the same symptoms, or may not even test the Black person at all. This predetermined way of thinking allows for biases to be turned into standard practices and standard practices to be turned into policies that inhibit “people of color” from getting the same standardized care as White people. It is important that people and organizations like Project South are protesting and standing up to malpractices and miseducation in the health-care field. Project South is a grassroots organization that launched its own COVID-19 testing sites in response to the shortage of resources for this community of color.