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Health Disparities

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Health Disparities in Lower Socioeconomic Individuals Socioeconomic status (SES) in recent times has been defined as “a broad concept that refers to the placement of persons, households and census tracts with respect to the capacity to create or consume goods that are valued in our society.” More specifically, it is the access an individual or group has to rudimentary resources that are required to obtain and preserve good health (Shavers, 2007). Socioeconomic status has been shown to impact physical health, with escalations in SES being linked with prominent benefits to health (Schreier & Chen, 2013). The fact that our culture’s poorer and less advantaged individuals live with inferior health and die earlier is a problem that needs to be …show more content…

To exemplify this fact, imagine a time before preventative health screenings were available; SES could not be tied to access to care, because these did not exist. For conditions where medical advances have been made that now provide treatment and prevention, overall mortality decreased while SES and race gradients shifted toward greater mortality for less fortunate groups (Phelan, Link, & Tehranifar, 2010). The Fundamental Cause Theory’s basic principle described by Phelan (2010) states, “a superior collection of flexible resources held by higher SES individuals and the collectivities to which they belong allow those of higher SES to avoid disease and death in widely divergent circumstances”. This theory argues that those with more resources, whether it is money, knowledge, power, etc., have better access to healthcare, and will die less often from preventable disease. Lower SES individuals experience several ways in which their social class impacts their health: less access to healthcare, poor behavior and lifestyle habits, and exposure to harmful environmental toxins. Environmental and lifestyle disparities experienced by lower SES individuals account for up to 80% of premature deaths (Shavers, 2007). Furthermore, three studies determined “that the SES-mortality association was stronger for preventable causes of death” (Phelan, Link, & Tehranifar, 2010). Due to unequal resource distribution, the lowest social class is becoming more ill, and dying sooner than their high class counterparts. If resources were more available or redistributed to reduce the inequality, inequalities in healthcare would also decrease (Phelan, Link, & Tehranifar,

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Dean Gaylord According to our textbook, In the US whites hold a significant advantage in health and longevity. The life expectancy for whites is averaged at 79.0 years compared with African Americans at 75.3. Those statistics were provided in the textbook by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012c. The textbook also talked about how during Bill Clintons presidency David Satcher a surgeon made the reduction of health disparities by race one of his primary goals.

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For decades, a person’s socioeconomic status or SES has affected the health care that people receive due to race and “wealth”. This problem has plagued American society because of these factors leading to many receiving inadequate health care. All of these factors for someone’s SES, has changed a lot in the health care domain that is unfair to many who are not the “ideal” and are a minority. Due to this the perception, experiences with health care waver and are different between the stages of these SES’s. No matter the status of a person they should receive the same amount of care, treatment, and closer.

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This article gives readers a different aspect to look at when it comes to our health outcomes. Our health outcomes are the main determinate on our class status, which Scott’s article shows through the stories of three individuals; while individual choices are a factor to our health outcomes it seems only be the catalyst—the tipping point—to the major health illnesses people get. It is completely possible for someone to shape their life chances through their own efforts, however; this occurrence is rare, which is the reason sociologists tend to focus on the typical pattern society follow. This article showed how one’s social status contributed to one’s health outcomes through access to one’s health care and the class differences. First is health care, Marger stated in his book Social Inequality: Patterns and Processes; that our social status is the biggest factor and poses the biggest impact on our health.

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Annotated Bibliography Marmot, M. (2005). Social determinants of health inequalities. The Lancet, 365, 1099 1104. This journal article illustrates that many countries have enormous disparities in health.

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The term social determinants of health, can be defined as a ‘set of conditions in which people are born, grow up, live and work.’ These conditions include housing, education, financial security and the environment along with the healthcare service. (http://www.rcn.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/438838/01.12_Health_inequalities_and_the_social_determinants_of_health.pdf) These factors are affected by the amount of money, power and resources that are available at a global, national and local level. Social determinants of health are linked to health inequalities according to the World Health Organisation, health inequalities are ‘the unfair and avoidable differences in health status seen within and between countries.’

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Socioeconomic status is a measurement of a person’s occupation, income and education levels. In most cases, socioeconomic status is perceived as social standing or financial class of an individual. Additionally, it is mostly based on power, influence and control that an individual has over others. Socioeconomic status is a fundamental variable utilized in discerning inequalities particularly in accessing and distributing public resources. Social standing is applicable in a wide range of realms such as behavioral factors as well as social sciences.

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Being a racial minority or of lower social status, health and longevity could be effected because they may not have the money or insurance necessary to cover medical expenses. People in lower social status situations typically are low income families and do not have insurance. Without medical insurance, these people are unable to maintain healthy lifestyles. They do not receive preventative care which can negatively impact their longevity. People in lower income families also can not afford to eat properly.

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Socioeconomic status, described by sociologists, is “any measure that attempts to classify groups, individuals, families, or household in terms of indicators such as occupation, income, wealth, and education.” (Conley, 256). They are classified into general classes that include upper class, middle class, working class, and poor. These classes can also affect a person’s health, as being in the upper class can allow you to access most, if not all, medical treatment necessary, whereas the lower status would not be able to due to the lack of money. Being the minority in a race or having low social status can influence health and longevity in many ways.

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There is no doubt that a direct correlation between low income and less health is prevalent. I see it specifically in my place of work. I work at wound care center where over half of the wounds we see are complicated by diabetes. The patient population that are younger and have uncontrolled diabetes are mostly young, of lesser socioeconomic class with government funded insurance like Fidelis and Medicaid. In a survey completed in 2010 48% of people with less education and a lower household income under $24,000 report that they have health problems that prevent them from doing what other people in their age group can do.

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Research clearly indicates that health is related to individual socioeconomic status (Hurst, 227). Apart from income, the other types such as race and gender inequality severely impact the health of individuals. The matter of good psychological health remains unattended in poor people because of less awareness on the matter. Several victims of depression and alienation are found in financial weak sections of the society. Women, socially oppressed, and the poor population has the least choice for a better lifestyle.

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This seems like a shocking and deplorable amount considering recent developments in our health services and greater life expectancy models. The hidden truth is that it tends not to be the health care or services that are the primary factor of health inequality but instead “the conditions people are born, grown, live and work”. 23. In Estonia, it is the “poor living conditions which damages health” and in London, it is known that around the city the life expectancy can change from one subway stop to another. Inequality has been around for awhile and is still affecting people and places worldwide.

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Health inequalities are preventable and unjust differences in health status experienced by certain population groups. People in lower socio-economic groups are more likely to experience chronic ill-health and die earlier than those who are more advantaged. Health inequalities are not only apparent between people of different socio-economic groups – they exist between different genders and different ethnic groups (“Health inequalities,” n.d.). The situation in which people are born, grow, develop, work and age are affected by social, economic, environmental and most importantly political factors.

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Less educated households and nations are also characterized by high mortality rates and poor health. There are fundamental

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