The accessibility of healthcare in the United States is not at the same level for different social groups. Many more vulnerable people require help to get the medical attention they need. Various aspects define a person’s vulnerability or social group, depending on predisposing or innate characteristics (gender, ethnicity), enabling or social features (insurance status, homelessness), or special needs peculiarities such as mental health problems or chronic illness.
The problem of racial inequality is prominent in the healthcare system as well. Ethnical minorities are at a greater risk of receiving worse quality care with poorer access, which results in worse outcomes (Shi and Singh 254). Consequently, compared to white Americans, Black, Hispanic, and Asian Americans have higher illness and mortality rates. Throughout decades there were presented various federal programs, such as the Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities (2011) and the U.S. Office of Minority Health (1985) to improve the situation and deliver quality help for the specific needs of minorities (Shi and Singh 257). However, the issue is still not solved completely, and thousands of people need better access to the healthcare system.
In addition, economic problems create low healthcare rates among uninsured and homeless people. These people face financial and social obstacles seeking essential care and are likely to have delays, which result in higher rates of critical conditions (Shi and Singh 262). That is required to build more community hospitals that would address the needs of such groups of people. Additionally, the homeless people face problems of victimization and assault; thus, they require more shelters and special medical attention. Therefore, many social groups are more vulnerable to problems in the healthcare system. The new strategies should create partnerships between public health initiatives and healthcare systems to support the most vulnerable individuals.
Work Cited
Shi, Leiyu, Singh, Douglas A. Essentials of the U.S. health care system. Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2019.