How Does Income and Education Create Health Disparite in the United States - Term Paper Example

Healthcare is a primary necessity of human beings in a society. In the United s its citizens and the corporate world have always valued the importance of health insurance. Many companies provide health insurance benefits as part of the total compensation package of the employees. The nation retirement system, social security, has a health insurance program called Medicaid for retirees. The current dilemma American society is facing is that medical expenses have skyrocketed and medical insurance coverage has become very expensive. In 2008 the total average annual premium for family medical insurance coverage is $12,680 which represents a 5% increase in cost in comparison with the previous year (Kff, 2008). Within the United States society there are health disparities among its citizens. Health disparity is defined as the differences in the incidence, prevalence, morbidity, and burden of disease and adverse health conditions that exists among specific population groups (Kamble & Boyd, 2008). Two demographic factors that can cause health disparities are income and education. The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of income and education on health disparities in the United States. The meaning and implications of health disparities covers a variety of aspects. Some examples of health disparities include differences in access to health care, discrepancy in disease patterns, quality of life and mortality, and differences in the quality and delivery of health care (Kamble, et al. 2008). Health insurance is very important factor that affects a person’s access to medical services. The disease a person is suffering determines the costs associated with treatment of that disease. People suffering from heart disease need specialized procedures such as percutaneous coronary interventions. In 1995 the National Registry of Myorcardial Infraction performed a study of 17,600 hearts to determine the effect health insurance had on the doctor’s treatment of the patients. One of the findings was that in hospitals with higher traffic of uninsured patients there was a great underutilization of revascularization procedures (Kamble, et al. 2008). The general result of the study was that health insurance dictates the medical treatment options a hospital or doctor chooses. Even if a person has health insurance the quality of the health plan is important. The more expensive a medical is the greater its coverage. The income of a person determines if the individual can afford a plan or not. Income is a determining factor that affects the geographic location and community a person lives in. In general the rural regions in the United States have lower income families than in the cities. A study in 2002 of the city-rural income gap showed that people living in the city earn $6,000 more than those in rural or regional areas (Abc, 2002). Doctors and health care professionals tend to migrate away from rural regions because there are better work opportunities for them in the cities. The effect for the rural population is that they have less availability and options to medical professionals particularly in specialized field such as heart related diseases. A fact that shows evidence of this pattern can be seen in the state of Mississippi a region that is mostly rural. In Mississippi over 80% of the counties have cero physicians who specialize in cardiovascular disease (Kamble, et al. 2008). Education is an important variable that creates health disparities in American society. People with lower levels of education are naïve about the importance of healthy living behaviors such as a good diet and daily exercise. In the article Racial / Ethnic Differences in Physician Distrust in the United States the authors describe the physician distrust phenomena. A key finding in the research study is that people of lower socio-economical (lower income, lower education, no health insurance) had a high level of distrust for the medical profession (Armstrong & Ravanell & McMurphy & Putt, 2007). Their distrust in the profession affects their decision to go the doctor for medical treatment. Due to their inability to cover their medical expense this group visualizes the profession as an evil money hungry institution that is out to take away the little financial resources they have. The distrust phenomenon is a dangerous proposition that must attended to by the medical community and governmental agencies. The lower the education level the greater the distrust or disregard for medical recommendations. If a person is illiterate he would not be able to follow the written instruction of a physician. Many times such individuals are not willing to reveal the fact they don’t how to read to others in particular their doctors. At times others people in this lower socio-economical group become frustrated with the system when a loved one is denied treatment because they can not pay for as a consequence their relative dies. The anger within them causes a level of frustration that creates the distrust which leads to disregard for their health well being. “Education attainment is associated, independent of race, with major differences in mortality and may affect the quality of care because of the impact on comprehension of written health materials and numerical instructions, health beliefs, patient preferences, adherence and compliance” (Kamble, et al. 2008). The more complicated medical treatment for a disease is, the greater role education plays. Diseases such as cardiovascular disease require from the patient behavioral changes, a long term commitment to treatment and the ability to recognize when improvements have occur. If a person overall levels of comprehension are low, undesirable phenomenon such as medical distrust has a chance to manifest itself which is detrimental to the patient. The article Does Literacy Mediate the Relationship Between Education and Health Outcomes? A Study of Low Income Population Diabetes was analyzed to further understand the significance of the education variable. Health Literacy is defined as an individual’s ability to perform basic reading and numerical tasks required for a person to comprehend basic health information and to make proper health decisions (Schillinger & Barton & Karter & Wang & Adler, 2006). In the research study diabetes was utilized as the control disease because of its high incidence among the general population, the fact that the effectiveness of a treatment can be tested in laboratory by measuring the blood sugar count, and because the disease requires a treatment in which is self-managed by the patient. There is lots of data available about the disease which makes it easier to create the correlation between education and diabetes. Nearly 24 million Americans suffer from diabetes (Cdc, 2008). The results of the study were that educational attainment was associated with better glycerin control, particularly among the lower strata educational group, and that these differences were both statistically and clinically significant (Schillinger, et.al.2006). The results from the diabetes – education correlation study has serious implication for the health care community. If a diabetes II patient with the same treatment gets lower results due to his educational level this means that doctors have to consider a person’s IQ when treating patients. The worst results came from the illiterate population, thus this group should be targeted. Raising awareness about illiteracy should be done through the radio broadcasting and television so that illiterate people the importance of being honest with their doctors and explaining their situation to these professionals. Once identified the doctor has to design his treatment in a different manner so that the person truly understand what is expected of him / her. This patient probable requires double the follow up visits than other patients to ensure that their social disadvantage does not continue to affect their health care treatment. After six months to one year if the medical professional feels that the patient is not falling behind in comparison with normal results then the target patient should receive the same treatment follow- up as the regular diabetes II population. Income and educational levels are two social economic factors that lead to the emergence of health disparity among the US population. A person’s educational level is correlated with his earning potential in the workplace. A high diploma allows a person to earn on the average a lifetime earnings of $1.2 million, this figures increases to $2.1 and $2.5 million for those workers who a bachelor degree and masters degree (About, 2008). The high pricing of health insurance is making it harder for lower income families to afford health insurance. Having health insurance and the quality of the plan determines the access people have to medical treatments for a lot of diseases. Income levels also affect the buying power of a family towards basic necessities such as food. A health diet implies a full array of food item such as daily vegetables and other things which might not be affordable for a lower income which forces them to purchase cheaper fatter food items. Unhealthy eating is detrimental towards a person’s health. Education is also important towards making healthier life choices. People from lower income and lower educational groups in the United States have lost faith in the medical community and do not trust doctors. This lead to lack improper attention to their health care needs. A lack of education affects the medical treatment of people when they are unable to follow the doctor’s instructions properly. The US community needs to raise awareness about the importance of health care and the government has to take measures to ensure every American citizen has a medical health care plan. References About.com (2008). Lifetime Earnings Soar with Education. Retrieved December 2, 2008 from http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa072602a.htm Abc.net (2002). Study shows gap in Rural, City Income. Retrieved December 2, 2008 from http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/stories/s484732.htm Armstrong, K., Ravenell, K., Mcmurphy, S., Putt, M. (2007). Racial / Ethnic Differences in Physician Distrust in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 97(7), 1283-1289. Cdc.gov (2008). November is American Diabetes Month. Retrieved December 1, 2008 from http://www.cdc.gov/Features/Livingwithdiabetes/ Kamble, S., Boyd, A.S. (2008). Health Disparities and Social Determinants of Health Among Afro-American Women Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Interventions. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 15(3), 132-142. Kff.org (2008). Employer Health Benefits 2008 Annual Survey. Keiser Family Foundation. Retrieved December 2, 2008 from http://ehbs.kff.org/?page=charts&id=1&sn=6&p=1 Schillinger, D., Barton, L., Karter, A., Wang, F., Adler, N. (2006). Does Literacy Mediate the Relationship Between Education and Health Outcomes? A Study of Low-Income Population with Diabetes. Public Health Reports, 121, 245-254. Read More