Cultural mistrust, which is the mistrust of minorities to white Americans and to the American systems such as the criminal justice and health care systems (Cort, 2004, p. 65) also causes health care disparities. The fear of racism, discrimination and unfriendly treatment that they may encounter in dealing with health care providers cause such cultural mistrust and serve as the hindrance to seeking health care.
The US health care system is dominated by white Americans (Cort, 2004, p. 66) and lack of diversity in the health care workforce and leadership is cited as one of the potential barrier to care because in general, minority health care providers are more likely to understand and take into account cultural issues associated with providing health care including cultural mistrust (Betancourt et al, 2002, p. 3-4). The diversity of population also resulted to complex health care needs.
Due to its complexity, the health care system has been regarded to be poorly designed and responsive to the the varying needs of patients of different socioeconomic status and ethnicity (Betancourt et al, 2002, p. 4). Typically, a health care system is composed of facilities, health care providers, health education, policies and regulations. This system can be considered to be not responsive to a diverse population when not all citizens cannot be able to use or access a facility, are provided by health education, and policies and regulations are bias or unfair for some individuals.
For instance, most African American do not have a regular physician while hospice philosophy does not take into consideration the beliefs of African Americans thus African Americans are underrepresented in the hospice patient population along with other minorities (Cort, 2004, p. 63). Geographic location is also an underlying cause of health disparities, usually among those who live in the urban areas and those in the rural areas.
In the 1999 Access to Care Files of the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey, it was found out that Medicare beneficiaries living in rural counties have more difficulty going to doctors and hospitals and are lacking of health care resources (e. g. drugstores) compared to the beneficiaries in the urban areas (MedPAC, 2001). From this, it can be viewed that health disparities exist between individuals who can easily access a health care facility and those who live farther from physicians and hospitals. Although there are community hospitals, hospitals in the urban area are usually more advanced in terms of services and facilities.
Conclusion Based on various earlier studies, health care disparities exist among the US citizens due to population diversity. Diversity in population is characterized by the differences in culture, socioeconomic status, language, and physical locations. Health care disparities are mostly felt and experienced by the minority groups as their characteristics are different from the majority of the US population.
References:
Betancourt, J. , Green, A. & Carillo, J (2002) Cultural Competence in Health Care: Emerging Frameworks and Practical Approaches, Field Report: The Commonwealth Fund, Retrieved online on April 15, 2007 http://www.commonwealthfund.org/usr_doc/betancourt_culturalcompetence_576.pdf