The present paper is an extensive exploration of the issues of racial and ethnic disparities that are prevalent in today’s health care system of the U. S. The paper is a comprehensive attempt in exploring this issue from a number of perspectives: how different stakeholders like the government, private organizations, and public sector see the situation, and what has been done to date to address the issue.
The exploration leads to a better understanding of the issue because it thoroughly examines the present health care system of the U.S. and reviews its current practices first for the overall population then specifically for the racial and ethnic groups that dwell in the country. The paper first looks at the nature of U. S. population; the diversity ingrained in it and then related it to the growing body of research on health care disparities for minority groups. The paper then moves on to specifically point out the disease and other areas where these disparities are more prevalent.
When these steps are covered, it is the aim of this paper that further understanding of ethnic disparities should be brought into two major areas: the initiatives taken by different stakeholders in this connection; and the direction of the overall research on ethnic disparities. These two sections are considered significant in the understanding of the ethnic disparities because they bring forth the very present state of the situation and future prospects.
At the end of the paper, conclusion follows to crucially summarize major issues of the paper and makes recommendation for future research and policymaking for racial and ethnic disparities. 2- Background of Research Although a culturally rich language, America has much to learn about race, ethnicity, and culture. This is due to the fact that to date surveys and studies show that a great number of Americans things like “race, ethnicity, and culture as basically all the same”. Most Americans cannot distinguish between racial and ethnic groups.
What is commonly found, hence, in America is that people base their assumption on various false principles, stereotypes, and generalization which has resulted in several kinds of social problems now linked to cultural diversity. This tendency has resulted in serious consequences for a very long time in the western culture that is still going on. There are two major tendencies in this regard: one is people associate individuals by physical appearance to a certain group and link reassumed status to them; the other is associating one trait (food, language, etc.) in order to categorize ethnic groups.
As such there is loss of meaning in terms of social health of American society. For instance, a large number of people today use only color for groupings. Colors like Black and brown are seen readily because in many states these two races are identified when it comes to minorities.
“This terminological designation is as arbitrary and artificial as the concept of race”. With this background, it is very much important to note that most of Americans in U.S. health care system are into contact with cultural diversity because no matter with what background, someone consulting to health care is more likely to encounter a care giver who is from a different culture. This is strikingly evident in nursing homes where 96 percent patients are white but the most direct care givers are more likely to be from a different culture; “This can lead to cultural misunderstanding, mistrust, and miscommunication” is not dealt properly.
The need to properly deal with it rises even more when there is problem in social understanding of these phenomenon and that health care disparities in minority groups are well-noted today (Reed-Danahay, 1997, pp. 14-21). 2. 1- Health Care in the U. S. Health care as such in the U. S. is a very complex issue in terms of construction and practical implications because it is well connected to the cultural diversity of the region. It is important to note that the U. S. as a welfare state “is a peculiar institution that is not well understood”.
Issues exist both in government and private sector alike; and the result is much more political debate at the cost of health care benefits in the country (Gottschalk, 2000, p. 4-5). With this in view, it should be noted that the U. S. health care system consumes 15 percent of GDP each year and the pace with which the number of health care professionals is rising leads to experts questioning if “the country has an oversupply”. Most technologically advanced health care system of the U. S. is said to cater for the needs of affluent and middle-class people with new technologies.
On the other hand cultural diversity if changing the way health institutions previously operated, then rising health care costs is another burning question put forward on national debates (Kronenfeld, 1997, pp. 30-33). With all this background then, the “right to health care” is a highly debatable issue in today’s health care system of the U. S. This term has now been interpreted differently by different stakeholders such as government, private sector, human right activist, and so on.
It is this continuation of debate that has now included a number of different issues in the same “a right to health care”. Diversity in the country’s population whole has also caught the attention of the experts, philosophers, government and the like. However, different stakeholders still see the situation from their own perspectives and for a long time the issue is getting complex by the day (Chapman, 1994, pp. 87-90). It is with this background that the present research aims to focus on the issue of ethnic disparities in U. S. health care and explores the issue at length.