Healthcare Inequality among Older Adults - Research Paper Example

?Healthcare Inequality among older adults Collage Introduction Health care generally tends to get worse as age advances. The most affected old people are those who are poor or marginalized as well as the minorities. Compared to their counterparts who are rich, they age faster and lack medical attention during their old age. This implies the direct relation between economic disparities among the old and their health status. The studies have shown that there is an increase in health differences between the old populations from different socioeconomic classes. The issue of retirement is earlier in the poor social class as compared to the rich class due to the fact that they lack proper medical care which leads to them retiring early. The society at the moment has changed, and older people are more in number due to improved medical care offered. This has led to a need to research on the social economic disparities among the older people. The Health Care System: The health care system can be described according following measures; the availability which generally refers to the number of health services providers in a given population living in a certain geographical area. The other is accessibility which refers to the distance which the population has to travel to the providers of services. Affordability refers to the population being able to cater for the cost of the services, acceptability to the meeting of the desires and needs of the patients. It is also vital that the services could be able to accommodate the patients in terms of hours of operation as well as the easiness of them getting the appointment. The Elderly and their Rights Having insights about the problems that are faced by the elderly makes us more concerned about their rights. Major challenges that the elderly face are having poor vision and hearing than younger people. Despite this, it is also crucial to view the social effects, as well. The social treatment given to the elderly matters a lot. The stereo types made against the elderly leads to the wrong perceptions of the aged. These lead to the problems being faced by the elderly to be exaggerated. (Pampel1- 5) As society advances, there has been a change in the trend on how the population views aging and according them their rights. Taking a look at the way the early society and the present one looks at the elderly it shows a significant change. The early societies In the agricultural societies in the preindustrial period, the rights of the aged had a little importance. The radical group whose rights were catered for by this society was the children and the younger generation. The old men in society had ownership of properties such as land hence wealth and power. This ownership upheld their rights as during their lifetime they could make sure their rights were taken care of using their positions (Pampel 1-5). During these times, they could make their own decisions on how long to do work, what to do with their wealth, and also on how to cater for themselves. The young generation had to wait so that they could inherit property from them. The old during this time had the privilege of being taken as wise, experienced and hence had authority. In churches, they had a place in the front so that they could guide the church. It is evident that, during this time, the old people had their rights accorded to them. They were admirable, and even the young exalted them. It is taken that the changes that accompanied the era of industrialization led to loss of the status of the elderly. Aging in the modern society and their rights It is argued by the historians that loss of status of the elderly came about due to equality ideals brought by the French. Or by the stereotypes imposed by the doctors, leaders in the business as well as social workers who took the elderly as a particular interest group. As health services improved, people were able to live long as there were retirement programs, which helped in providing a good life for aged in the society. These changes had also a negative side; the elderly had a longer period in which they had to depend on retirement and health programs provided by the public. Today the elderly are being forced into retirement early. The old members of the community are forced into the home for elderly without their concept . They also face the stereotype of aging which in turn has led to pressure in demanding their rights. As the modern society has made impressive strides in making life longer, the elderly face a serious danger of being mistreated by younger generations which they depend on. The young generations usually sees them as nuisance which leads to them not valuing them All these leads to the fact that the rights of the elderly need to be catered for. The rights for the elderly in health care are dignity and self-respect for them, having the freedom of recieving any kind of abuse either  physical, verbal or psychological. They ought to be handled with care and should not be restricted from accessing medical services food as well as water. The elderly also need respect and follow their rights together with safe and secure environment. (Louise 20-25) Socioeconomic Disparities in Health The World Health Organization has defined the standards which must be followed to determine the equity distribution of health services as compared the economic efficiency of the system in general. The health system is accessed from its responsiveness in the proving care, the financial contribution towards the care as well as its equity in health outcomes (Walter SP 394) It has been argued that among the best kept secrets about long life and good health are found in people’s social, economic as well as the cultural circumstances. The leads to the fact that the greatest gap lies between the poor and rich. This can be summarized as the lower one is the society in terms of wealth, the higher the chances of long life. Taking the America as a case study, despite the efforts made to invest in the health care and being one of the countries where investment in health care is massive, its health care is worse than other developed countries. (Barr 54) The inequality in access to medical care continues to thrive due to social problems, the minorities less often receive the required medical care especially when hospitalized with cardiac problems as well as being diagnosed with cancer at late stages. Some of the health problems faced by the minorities can be prevented by having access to medical care at the early period. The poor people have less access to medical care as compared to high income earners. In a country like America, poor people and Hispanics have greater disparity as well as Blacks. It is argued that social factors related attributed to disparities in care could be directly related to access to care. The differential access to care is the leading contributor to the disparities in the health care. Social isolation Old people usually get socially isolated creating a barrier for them to receive the much needed health care services. Lack of social support as well as having social stigma, may lead to people becoming isolated..The old people have considerable difficulty in mobility, this works against them as they may not access the health care appointment in time. As age advances, it becomes a social construction as well as a biological one. Social in such that the old person is cut of his friends, there is continuous dependent by the aged. The body biologically changes in terms of the energy. It is crucial to know the problems associated with the social isolation. These are; stress, becoming depressed, and there is a greater risk of getting the disability from the chronic ailments (Davies 45). Current Status of the Health Care System It is important to understand the need of access to health care. The greatest problem that is being faced by the current health care system is the disparities in health care as well as health. There is a considerable drive to make it possible that the population have access to health care by the provision of a safety program to cover them. Currently the health system requires adequate financing by an individual. This involves one using income as well as wealth to cater for the health issues. Through the provision of health insurances, as well as schemes by government and investors, it is possible for an individual to have the best health care depending on the resources invested. In some countries, it is essential that every citizen must have a health cover; this goes a long way in improving the health status of the community especially the elderly. The elderly are more prone to illness due to their age. Countries like the United States have tried their best in improving the life of the older adults. This have been due to realization that the the older generation people requires more health attention. The government has also established programs to cater for illness considered chronic such as cancer. These programs go a long way in improving the health of the older adults. Modern health services also include professionals who are well trained in handling the health issues of the adults (American Hospital Association 22). Recently for the elderly, it have been a relief as schemes across many countries, to help take care of their health issues have been established, but still more need to be done for the disparities in access are removed. This is due to the fact that the elderly from minorities need to be catered for as well as the poor. Though there have been more efforts directed in providing adequate health services at the moment, there is need to try to combat the root cause of these diseases. This has been shown to lack in the current health systems which are more focused in treating rather than preventing. Age inequality In healthcare, equity is a paramount concern to population as a whole irrespective of their age. In both health services and epidemiological research, age standardization is quite common. Interactions between gender, social status and age are in many cases overlooked. Therefore, the studies which examine ageism will always adjust for both social and economic variables wherever the data pertaining to a wide population is being analyzed. Consequently, there is lack first hand evidence of social-economic inequalities by the older people using healthcare. Looking at age inequality, the matter of age discrimination arises. Age discrimination refers to mistreatment which includes not providing or limiting the opportunities to certain population on the basis of their age. When it comes to health, this refers to giving older people poor health treatment or not giving them basic care standards. Sometimes, age discrimination may not be entirely a conscious act it may occur by what peoples perceive to be acceptable. Some of the examples of age discrimination are older women having no automatic invitations for free breast cancer treatment. Looking at hip and knee replacements which are operations needed by the people over the age of 65 years, the suffer long times in the waiting queue. The old people in the care homes are mostly placed there without being given a chance to look at other options. Some of the stereotypes of that has contributed to this state are such as people believing that decline in health among older people is a natural thing and should be accepted as part of aging. Other is social economic status of the aged. Studies have shown that people aged sixty five years and above may be less likely to access hospital if they are of lower socio-economic status. Since older people with a higher socio-economic status have access to home care services, they have a higher chance of dying at home. On the other hand, psychiatric illness, which is common in older people, is not treated with the fairness it deserves. This is evidenced by expression of discontent by the aged of the services they receive which they term as slow. This is caused by poor coordination between hospitals and the psychiatric staff. Elderly Rights Violated The three main categories of rights of the aged are participation, protection and image. Image refers to the need to define a less degrading and discriminatory idea of the aged while protection refers to emotional, physical and psychological safety of the aged. On the other hand, participatory right establishes a greater and active role for the aged population in the society (American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man). However, all these requirements are not always met and thus resulting into violation of the rights of the elderly people. A good example is where a ruling or a decision is taken to undermine the rights of the aged. The government upholda powers to decise on whose rights will take precedence when different parties seek the same platform. This becomes exceedingly sensitive when it comes to healthcare rights. As a result, the right of the elderly to access healthcare is violated when other age groups’ rights, e.g. children under five years of age, take precedence. The Health Services Provided to Older Adults In most cases, elderly living in a home setting receive services from family members or other unpaid help. Different agencies have set a range of services which broadness with time. They aim at improving the functional abilities of old people thereby preventing the need for institutional care (Association). Others have gone a step further to provide respite services which aim at relieving caregivers the stress in their day to day activities giving responsibility periodically. On the other hand, adult day care centers have become a vital community based resource taking care of the dependent older adults. They take care of the aged by offering structured programming to the old people who are functionally impaired. They not only provide meals but also structured recreational and social activities and transportation services (Cultler, p 313). By providing the adult care centers, the community has been able to cater for the aged image. At these centers, the impaired adults are able to lead a comfortable live with all needed care being provided for by the institution. Most of the aged are also catered by comprehensive health cover in the developed countries. This means they can access the best health care in case of illness. This raises issues of need to help those from developing countries who are left out in health covers. Among the most rapidly growing components of healthcare services are the services provided to the elderly in the comfort of their homes. Family members will give most of services to the old people at home but, cannot give all the required services. This is why geriatrics care management services come in handy. These service providers clearly outline and coordinate the care given to the aged (Kronenfeld 20-25). Recommendations At the moment, the disparities in health care exist among the older adults. There is a need for the health workers to encourage and help in making sure there is substantial involvement of the aged in the promotion of health and also in the community based health care services. For example, the nurses are the best suited group to encourage and promote the health services that are free from age discrimination as well as ending the stereotypes. There ought o be positive discrimination which can be used to reduce the inequities in health care for example, giving free health care to those aged over the age of 65 years. The society should be educated on the handling of the aged and having medical care as well as having a health scheme. The existing health disparities should be reduced by the countries so that the aged poor or rich can attain the required health care standards. There is also need for nurses to practice the following; ensuring that the older people are given a chance to make a choice of a home care. Older people should also be involved in decision making the decisions. There is also need to make sure that there is easy access to information for older people in the local community. All these will ensure that the older generation is not left out. The current health care systems need to look more into how to address the symptoms especially among the adults so as to prevent chronic health conditions at advanced age. This is due to fact that of all chronic diseases 80 % can be prevented. This would serve to protect old people who are mostly diagnosed with chronic conditions. Bibliography Barr, Donald A. Health Care Disparities in the United States. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press , 2008, 54. Kronenfeld, Jennie Jacobs. Research in the Sociology Health care.Vol 3.Oxford : JAI Press, 2008. 20-48. Louise M. Simmers , Karen Simmers-Nartker, Sharon Simmers –Kobelak. Diversified Health Occupations. Newyork: Delmar Cengage Learning, 2008, 20-25 Pampel, Fred C. Rights of Elderly. Ed. Facts on File PUBLISHING. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2009.1-5 Davies, N. Reducing inequalities in Healthcare provision for older adults, New York , Delmar Cengage Learning ,2011.49-55. American Hospital Association; First Consulting Group. When I’m 64: How boomers will change health care. Chicago: American Hospital Association; 2007. P 23 Cultler, S. J. The impact of Gender on configuration care among among married elderly couples., 14 1992 .P 313-330. Read More