Health Equity Essay Example

Issues concerning health equity and accessibility continue to plague healthcare as we currently perceive it. Racial disparities and unequal access to healthcare are recurrent problems that exist in population health. To understand the current state of health disparities in the United States, it is prudent to recognize and acknowledge some of the root causes. Miceli (2020) defines health equity as fair opportunity for everyone to be as healthy as possible. This refers to fair opportunity for everyone in a community to receive the same health benefits, irrespective of factors such as socioeconomic status, education, ethnicity, race, identity, sexuality, gender, disability status, or other various factors. Health disparities take on many forms in the United States, and they involve an array of populations and groups. Racism is another recurrent issue that results in disadvantages for many minority groups, placing those communities at greater risk for poor health outcomes.

Achieving health equity means that every person has the fair opportunity to attain his/her full health potential without being disadvantaged because of social position or other socially determined circumstances (Ndugga & Artiga, 2021). Certain populations are socially disadvantaged, resulting in vast differences in health insurance coverage, access to care, and quality of care. Examples of these groups include minorities, low-income individuals and families, young single mothers, children/adolescents, people with special needs, the disabled, veterans, migrant workers, immigrants, and many others. Health inequity also extends beyond social factors such that there are observable differences in health care coverage and accessibility for individuals based on geographic regions, such as rural and inner-city areas. It is also important to recognize that these groups are not mutually exclusive, and they often intersect in various meaningful ways.

The introduction of the COVID-19 pandemic also launched a distinct set of challenges for many populations and subgroups. Prior to the pandemic, minority groups and many underserved populations were already facing deep-rooted health disparities. Despite the acknowledgement of disparities and documentation of overall improvements in population health, many disparities persist, and in some cases, widened the gap between equity and disparity (Ndugga & Artiga, 2021). Data before the COVID-19 pandemic suggested that people of color fared worse compared to their White counterparts, and people of low-income had worse health status than those with higher income (Ndugga & Artiga, 2021). The LGBTQ+ community also endured health care challenges linked to societal stigma and fear of seeking health care due to discrimination. As stated before, the challenges and disadvantages experienced by these populations or population subgroups often overlap, which may lead to greater health disparities. 

Identifying the barriers and facilitators for the issues surrounding health disparity is important to the recognition of the root causes, and it also helps realize the potential solutions as we move forward. According to Arespacochaga and Robinson (2020), the structural barriers to health equity among many communities are due to limited access to housing, food, and transportation. Inequities in education, employment, workforce diversity, and mistrust of the health care system further compound these disparities. Homelessness is one of the most prevalent barriers for veterans which contributes heavily to chronic conditions, poor veteran health, and limited access to quality health care (National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, 2017). Veterans also require specialty services such as psychotherapy for traumatic events. The suicide rates for veterans is also another issue and health inequity is only going to worsen that problem. For rural communities, limited timely access to a health care provider, under-resourced hospitals, lack of sufficient health care providers and limited transportation are all barriers to health equity and access to care. The availability of food relative to income is also another huge barrier for many individuals and families. The affordability of nutritious food also concerns the health of many populations. Low-income families rely on affordable subpar food options for survival, most of which are linked to chronic diseases such as obesity, heart disease, and cancer. These barriers are identified as some of the root causes of health disparities in the U.S. Luckily, there are also facilitators in place that minimize the widening capacity of the barriers in relation to the gap between health equity and disparity.

Many partnerships and programs currently exist that help address some of the aforementioned barriers. For instance, the Veterans Sustainable Agricultural Training Program (VSAT) helps veteran students transition into the civilian workforce and potentially influence their health. A partnership between the American Heart Association (AHA) Institute for Diversity and Health Equity (IFDHE) and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL) was developed to help more people achieve their best possible health (Arespacochaga & Robinson, 2020). Through this grant program, participating hospitals will receive money awards to support programs that target health disparities within their communities. These programs target areas such as diabetes, breast cancer, rural communities’ access to health care, pediatric, and maternal health. My suggestions for improvement as we move forward in time include the establishment of more government driven programs to support hospitals and health care organizations in supporting their communities, more agricultural funding, employment programs and basic housing for the homeless, and reforming policies involving universal health care. Also, diversity and health equity should be a major focus in the Healthy People 2030 initiative. The overall goal of health equity pertains to everyone, and we need to invest more in our communities and health care organizations to promote greater health equity and equal access to quality health care.