Issues in Minority Health
Source: The Commonwealth Fund
Despite many gains over the last 25 years, minority Americans continue to lag behind the majority of Americans in measures of health outcomes. Results of the National Comparative Survey of Minority Health Care showed that minority adults are twice as likely as white adults to be uninsured, they are more likely to experience difficulties in receiving appropriate and nessary medical care, they have less choice in where they receive care, and they report more negative experiences with the health care system.

Other well-documented national statistics indicate that African Americans are more likely to report poor health status and to experience higher mortality rates for many conditions, including heart disease and cancer, than white Americans. Life expectancy at birth remains six years less for African American women than for white women, and eight years less for African American men than for white men. While progress has been made in reducing infant mortality over the past two decades, the African American infant mortality rate has remained nearly 2.5 times higher than that of white infants.

A contributing factor is the lack of access to health care for many minority Americans because they are uninsured, rely on public coverage, or live in communities where there are limited numbers of available providers. For African Americans under age 65, 26% are uninsured, compared with 14% of white Americans in the same age group. The Medicaid program is a critical source of insurance for many minority children and adults: 22% of African Americans rely on Medicaid, compared with 7% of white Americans. Over 75% of medically underserved individuals live in metropolitan areas, and a majority live in inner cities that are disproportionately poor and minority. In addition, the health care system itself may present significant cultural and language barriers to care.

Medical Attention
Source: National Journal Group, 1999
For many poor people, hospitals have replaced the general practitioner’s private office as the main locus of care, and hospital and medication costs have soared to prohibitive levels. Health care professionals must also realize that poor people, in general, typically delay seeking medical assistance until the disease process is in advanced stages.

Statistics also indicate that black adults are nearly twice as likely as white adults to report having very little or no choice in where they go for medical care.

A new survey, released in April 1999, shows that blacks sought medical advice more often then whites: 85% of blacks surveyed had seen a doctor within the past year, compared with 76% of whites. But the higher visitation rate among blacks was not found to be a measure of confidence in the system, about health care in general, or about health maintenance. It seems, though, that lack of access does not mean lack of utilization.