The Affordable Care Act (ACA) will be instrumental in providing health cover to low-income earners and improve access to care for the disadvantaged groups (Weisfeld, 2011). Consequently, the Act will improve the quality of care. A quality of care would be guaranteed since it improves safety net delivery system, access to care, diversity in the workforce, increases cultural competency and data collection would be strengthened.
Healthcare disparities
This can be described as the difference in accessing quality health care coverage from one group to another in terms of a wide range of dimensions including race, age, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, location and disability status (Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2012). As such, due to this disparity in health care, one group of the society is grappling with high cases of mortality, illnesses, disability or injuries than the others. The disparity is a major obstacle to enhancing the overall health care quality across the country. It is estimated that the economy loses over US $309 billion in medical cost which are used to cover medical cost caused by the disparity (Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2012). Currently, the affected population regards to health care disparity are the low-income earners and minorities groups such as the Hispanic, American Indians and African American. The results of poor access to health care are adverse health outcomes.
Factors that contribute to health care disparities
Economic downtown is one of the factors contributing to the existence of care disparities. The cost of care is very high and, therefore, the rich are the only ones who can afford it while the low-income earners find it hard to meet the cost of care (Koh & Sebelius, 2010). The disparity in the health care can also be brought about by race and ethnicity. Groups such as the Hispanic and the black community have not been fully integrated and involved in the healthcare system. Additionally, environmental factors such as proximity to healthcare have contributed largely to the existence of disparities in the health care.
Reasons why health care disparities persist
Despite a lot of improvements in the health care over time, the disparity in the sector continues to be witnessed and even it has widened. The Economic downturn continues to be a major factor as to why disparity has continued to persist (Weisfeld, 2011). This is because it pushes up the cost of healthcare making it hard for the poor to afford it. Consequently, environmental factors such proximity to care; education and neighborhood safety are also reasons as to why disparity continues to persist (Koh & Sebelius, 2010). Additionally, the manner in which the healthcare system is organized, delivered and financed is not good enough to address problems of disparities.
Possible solutions to health care disparities
In solving the health care disparity in the country, it is important to involve the state, private organizations and the local communities in the process so as to remove any kind of resistance that might occur on the way, for instance, expansion of the Medicaid where some states have refused to expand this program hence locking a large portion of population. It is imperative the federal government, states’ authorities and community organizations agree on how to expand the Medicaid to reach as many people as possible (Collins et al., 2013). The department of health and human services should also create offices that address problems faced by minority groups that can help in advocating equality in the healthcare, in addition, the department can work with the states authorities to help the undocumented families get necessary documents to apply for Medicare and Medicaid programs (Weisfeld, 2011). Improvement in the education accessibility and quality will be vital in addressing low incomes in the long run in terms of employment and high income to be able to afford insurance cover or access employment insurance cover (Weisfeld, 2011).
Conclusively, this problem in the healthcare has continued to be a constant challenge in the United States and evidently, it has proved to be costly since it leads adverse health care outcomes. Disparities are commonly caused by economic, racial and ethnic factors. Efforts should be put in place to address this problem such as involving as the stakeholders such as the state and local communities in coming up measures to address the problem.
References
Collins, S. R., Rasmussen, P. W., Garber, T., & Doty, M. M. (2013). Covering young adults under the Affordable Care Act: the importance of outreach and Medicaid expansion: findings from the Commonwealth Fund Health Insurance Tracking Survey of Young Adults, 2013. Issue Brief (Commonwealth Fund), 21, 1-15.
Koh, H. K., & Sebelius, K. G. (2010). Promoting prevention through the affordable care act. New England Journal of Medicine, 363(14), 1296-1299.
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. (2012). FOCUS ON HEALTH CARE DISPARITIES.
Weisfeld, V. D. (2011). Jonas and Kovner's health care delivery in the United States. A. R. Kovner, & J. R. Knickman (Eds.). Springer Publishing Company.
