Even though the black African Americans face myriads of health barriers, most of them often find it difficult to consult their physicians and provide confidential information that can assist towards their medication. In the case whereby they need urgent treatment amid barriers to existing healthcare facilities, most of the black African Americans usually seek God’s intervention for healing.
This trend has been largely contributed by the church’s role as well as the traditional barriers that have always existed in seeking healthcare (Grace, 2011). Spirituality, sharing and family bonding are three key pillars that are valued by the black African Americans.
Health insurance is not a common aspect among the Asian immigrants in the United States. There are instances when they are not even in a position to utilize healthcare services compared to the Hispanic and Asians born in the United States.
Some of the barriers that Asians face in accessing healthcare services in the United States include language discordance, cultural incompetency and health-related belief systems, poor access to healthcare facilities and rampant discrimination when it comes to accessing healthcare services.
Due to these barriers, Asians have sought to come up with their own custom-made healthcare facilities where they can receive treatment services at subsidized costs. Some of them are using their cultural belief systems to treat emerging diseases.
The Hispanics are poorly served by healthcare services in the US in spite of the fact that they comprise the largest group among the ethnic minorities. This ethnic segment in the US can hardly seek and receive treatment from institutions of health. Their belief system is also a major impediment towards receiving healthcare services from reputable healthcare facilities (Grace, 2011).
They do not also receive preventive care services compared to other major ethnic groups in the United States. In order to address this problem among the Hispanics, they are currently being taken through culturally appropriate programs that can assist them in understanding the importance of both curative and preventive healthcare services (Grace, 2011).
For instance, they are being educated on the relevance of medical screening and widening access to treatment in hospitals. In addition, there is great concern towards specific barriers that hinder medical care among the Hispanics. Some of the impediments that have already been identified include poor knowledge background among healthcare professionals and poverty. The Hispanics ate being encouraged to embrace preventive services.
In the case of American Indians/Alaskan people, there are several healthcare barriers that have not been resolved for a long time. Disparity in the provision of healthcare services is still a common challenge among this ethnic segment of the American society (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2006). However, this ethnic group has sought several methods of addressing the growing disparity.
For example, religion plays a major role in resolving healthcare dilemmas since spirituality has been given a major priority when seeing solutions to unknown problems (Grace, 2011). There are also community-based healthcare facilities that target this segment of the population even in cases where discrimination exists in healthcare proviso. Finally, the American Indians/Alaskan natives have massively enrolled themselves in healthcare insurance in order to subsidize the cost of healthcare (Grace, 2011).
From the above considerations, healthcare barriers can be minimized by educating each of the ethnic segments on the importance of seeking professional healthcare. Culturally-sensitive information should also be treated with caution so that the minority groups are not offended. Finally, physicians should explain the importance of taking drugs irrespective of religious or cultural beliefs.
References
Grace, L.D. (2011). Health watch. Web.
US Department of Health and Human Services (2006). Barriers to American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native American Access to HHS Programs. Web.