Delayed Access To Healthcare

Although developed nations have healthcare available sometimes its impossible to have access to it. One thing almost all developed nations have in common with each other is that healthcare is never free. Some nations require citizens to pay more and some may require less, but there is always a price. The United States is a perfect example of this, the financially wealthy benefits most from our healthcare system while our more vulnerable populations that’s living in poverty have little to no benefits from our healthcare system at all. This then affects the diseases most prevalent in within each community and between developed and developing nations. Access to care also affects how those diseases or infections spread, the poor tends to get sicker

Without access to healthcare one cannot see primary care physicians, receive preventative screenings or education on potentially harmful habits. One can only hope they remain healthy, and if not they hope to get better on their own without the help of physicians because it’s unaffordable. This is where delayed access to healthcare plays an important role. Preventable and easily treatable diseases become chronic and patients become very ill. Some receive some sort of treatment but sometimes at that point it’s too late, because their access to healthcare was delayed. According to the article Delayed Access to Health Care: Risk Factors, Reasons, and Consequences “Cost was an important factor in delaying care for patients in lower socioeconomic positions; the odds of delaying care because of cost for patients who were both poor and uninsured were 12 times greater than the odds for other patients” (Weissman, Stern, Fielding & Epstein 1991). As stated before there is a higher mortality rate in lower class communities for most diseases compared to the upper class, because chances are the disease had progressed too far along to be treated or even potentially prevented. If one community is continually suffering because of their lack of access to healthcare due to socioeconomic factors then of course it’s going to be a very big role in driving the

Those who do have access to it have insurance or can afford to pay out of pocket, both however requires money in the United States. This is huge contributor in the dividing communities, causing people to speculate whether racial differences play a role as well. The only way to have complete access to our health care one must have insurance or must be able to pay out of pocket for the services they need. Having health care and not having health care is become a large divide between socioeconomic groups. These groups differ in the types of diseases are most prevalent in each community. For example the leading cause of death in one group maybe cardiovascular disease but in another group the leading cause of death could be HIV. Access to health care also affect how each socioeconomic can be affected by the same disease. It might be considered a major threat to one community and minor threat to another. Overall we can never truly feel as one as a nation but as separated due to the inequalities of our health care