Access To Health Care

Health disparities among African-Americans is a continuing problem that has been seen over many years. African-Americans have higher poverty rates, have lower rates of insurance coverage, and are more likely to be covered by Medicaid, than the White population (Copeland, 2005). This lack of insurance has led many of these individuals, to not seek treatment for illness, due to problem accessing health care (Kennedy, 2013). This leaves African-Americans with little to no treatment, which causes an increase of medical care that will be needed further on in their life or a sooner than expected death, caused by illness (Copeland, 2005).

The United States government spent 2.3 billion dollars in 2010 on federally funded healthcare initiatives and programs according to a report from the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (2008). Despite this astronomical amount of money, health care disparities continue to plague disadvantaged populations in the United States. A health care disparity is defined as differences in incidence, mortality, prevalence, disease burden, and adverse health conditions that occur in specific population groups in the United States (National Institutes of Health, 2010).

The article being summarized is out of the book Health Care Delivery in the United States by Jonas and Kovner. The chapter is called Access to Care written by Billings, Cantor, and Clinton in 2011. The article is a review of literature because it is a chapter from a book and did not test any new information. The chapter looked at studies that have been done and comparing and showing the different findings. The point of this chapter is to, “understand the nature of the access problem, understand the distinction between economic and noneconomic barriers to health care, understand the characteristics of the uninsured and the policy implications of those characteristics, understand how access barriers impinge on health, understand how access barriers affect the health care delivery system, and understand the challenges for recently enacted national health care reform, particularly around reducing noneconomic and quasi-economic barriers to care” (Billings, 2011, p. 151). The main point of this chapter and researching findings was to look at the barriers that still exist in the health care system that are causing people to remain uninsured in this time of health care reform.

The purpose of this paper is to inform you of a proposal that the Governor of Texas has proposed to the state, on how he feel about the health care reform. I will be talking about how the governor thinks by” issuing top-down mandates on a break-neck timetable is a surefire way to make things worse”. The health care reform legislation currently being considered not only poses a serious threat to patients and providers, but will also cost Texas taxpayers tens of billions of dollars. I will be explaining how the governor feels that President Obama’s plan will cause harm to the health care system,” by increasing

The Extent of the social problem reaches to numbers of persons and populations in the United States. Living without health insurance are in excess of 50 million people in the United States, which is roughly equivalent to 16.7% of the population, or one in six U.S. residents (Wolf, 2010). Defining this as a problem are those most affected by the inaccessibility barrier which includes illegal immigrants, the elderly, and those persons unable to attain insurance coverage due to a pre-existing medical condition.

Access to health services is often related to having a health insurance. In most of cases both terms go hand in hand, however, this does not always happen in that way. Five years ago, my mother suffered a myocardial infarction. It was an unexpected situation for my family, especially for me. My mother was only 54 years, and the doctors did not ensure her survival. Several weeks after my mother miraculously recovered, the cardiologist who treated her recommended the realization of a catheterization to place a stent in the affected artery. My mother

Throughout history, the health care system of the United States has always had some form of disparities. These disparities are a major concern in today's health care system, especially since equality is held as the highest standard in our society. But in order to understand how health disparities can be brought to a halt, an understanding of the determinants of health is needed. Health of individuals and populations is determined by many factors such as, health services, race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, environment, geography, legislative policies, genetics, etc. Solutions to these problems have been the

“Liberty and Justice for all”. This phrase means to most that being an American citizen will grant you the benefits of freedom and fair treatment from everyone. Some may argue whether or not this holds true, however, the United States truly has come a long way from an equality standpoint since its inception. Liberty and Justice was not always for all. Minorities in particular, did not share any of the benefits of being in the land of the free and brave; does this still hold true today when it comes to the availability of heath care? Going to the doctor for a simple checkup and prescription should be considered a normal and affordable part of life. Being medically insured allows this to be done with ease, but for the large percentage of the minority population who are not, it can be a daunting task. Those who end up getting medical care without the proper insurance can rack up debt that becomes impossible to pay off. According to a study done by Wiltshire, Elder, Elder, Kiefe, and Allison (2016), 21.4% of African Americans had some form of medical debt with their Caucasian counterparts only having seven point one percent. This paper examines who is affected most by medical debt and lack of insurance, how geographical differences influence those individuals, and what is being done to make health care more affordable.

As populations around the world continue to grow, it becomes more evident that health services provided worldwide are not growing at the same rate and instead will continue to put further strain on existing health disparities, and create new ones. In the United States alone, access to healthcare is a crucial topic of discussion principally as the American government continues to create initiatives and legislation such as the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Although, the United States has come a long way to legally create access to care to all its citizens, there is a disparity in the number of individuals that in actuality receive healthcare due to the geography of cities and the nation.

Health care is defined as the efforts made to maintain or restore physical, mental, or emotional well-being especially by trained and licensed professionals (Merriam-Webster dictionary). The study of human societies has revealed that people have always find different ways, depending on their environment, to restore their health. In early societies, they used plants, animals and mineral extracts and even religious rituals, to drive away evil spirits, to relieve their symptoms. The healthcare system as we know it today is the fruit of centuries of evolution and is in perpetual improvement. It appears clearly that healthcare has always been a major concern for people. The healthcare setting is appropriate for people who are sick; better tools and well-trained professionals can help reduce the impact of a

With the baby boomer generation spurring the overall ageing of the United States population, this upcoming demographic shift provides an opportunity to address various ageing issues. Examining disparities in the utilization of healthcare services continues to be a prominent and worthwhile goal, specifically in the area of promoting healthcare access to marginalized and minority racial and ethnic groups who are significantly less likely to contact health professionals resulting in poorer overall health profiles. With recent legal changes, the changing climate of health care policy in the U.S. can be utilized to reduce current barriers to the access of quality healthcare.

There is a big difference in the access to healthcare in different demographics, especially when it comes to age. For existent, older people over the age of 65 receives the worse care. Medicare is a program that was implemented in 1960s, this source of coverage “remains to be the main source of health insurance for approximately two-thirds of the American people” (Williams & Torre, 2008). Medicare that is offered to them when they turn 65, but the coverage and care is not all that great. Most people that are elderly really do not understand the difference in the healthcare coverage. “Most elderly people are insured against health expenses through Medicare, but Medicare doses not provide complete insurance and some beneficiaries potentially

Health care is one of the most pressing issues in the media and on people’s minds in today’s society. There is much disagreement on how to solve the problems within the healthcare system, but everyone agrees that there are problems. The significant numbers of Americans who do not have insurance drove the Obama administration to make health care reform one of its top priorities. The rising costs of health care and abuses of the system have motivated the Trump administration to try and repeal or reform Obamacare. One of the biggest issues in health care is what is called health care disparities, which involve unequal access to quality health care for people based on things such as cultural, linguistic, or economic factors. As a

An individuals access to health services can have a large impact on their health. Their access to services in often determined by their geographical location, weather they live in a urban or rural location. People living in urban areas may have much easier access to health services and may be more educated on how to use them. Unlike people living in rural or remote locations, who may have to travel a long way to reach health services, therefore impacting on their overall health.

Today, I am going to present you my geography assessment. My topic is about the access to healthcare facilities.