The ability to charge more is a bargaining chip for hospitals and other primary care providers (Shi & Singh, 2022). Many hospitals in the United States and other concentrated markets may have higher healthcare costs than their European counterparts for the same medical services. For tax purposes, the contribution made by an employer toward an employee’s health insurance plan is deductible by the business and is not subject to withholding by the worker. This encourages businesses to invest in more lavish health plans. Overuse of care that is both necessary and expensive might be encouraged by policies like low deductibles or minimal office co-payments. After staying away in droves throughout the epidemic, many individuals return to their doctors, contributing to a gradual rise in healthcare inflation. Expenses like running the business, buying materials, and paying for overhead all rise with inflation (Shi & Singh, 2022). Further, healthcare organizations have suffered because of persistent labor shortages and decreased yearly earnings for healthcare professionals.
Increases in healthcare costs are a significant concern for many African Americans because they fear they may ultimately outpace their yearly income growth (Hall et al., 2022). So they are discussing whether to cancel or postpone treatment, much as they did during the epidemic until they can get their finances under control. However, patients with chronic diseases should prioritize meeting their healthcare requirements as soon as possible because of the lag time associated with healthcare inflation.
Diversity or Socioeconomic Disparities Which Exist with how Rising Healthcare and Insurance Costs Impacts African-Americans
Longstanding health inequalities existed between whites, people of color, and other underprivileged groups before the COVID-19 epidemic. There have also always been gaps in medical treatment for specific populations (Wikle et al., 2022). Many more people are now insured because of the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansions. However, despite these advances, persons of color and low-income individuals continue to face more immense hurdles to getting health care since they are more likely to be uninsured.
While the health of the population as a whole has improved, numerous inequalities have remained and even become worse. Historically, people of color and low-income persons have had to overcome more obstacles to getting care, such as a higher uninsured rate, than Whites and those with higher incomes (Wikle et al., 2022). Some health outcomes have been more unequal over time, with data showing an increase in the death rates of Blacks from heart disease and AIANs from diabetes.
Evidence-based findings
Massive coverage expansions for previously underserved populations were achieved because of the ACA (Sosnovske, 2022). Increases in Medicaid eligibility and private health insurance exchanges are only two examples of the increased coverage opportunities made possible by the Affordable Care Act. Considerable coverage improvements across racial and ethnic groups have occurred since the ACA was enacted in 2010. The most dramatic increase occurred when the Medicaid and marketplace expansions were implemented in 2014. The gap between the uninsured rates of people of color and Whites shrank by a few percentage points due to more significant coverage gains among people of color as a fraction of the population. However, as of 2018, most minoritized communities still had a higher rate of uninsurance than Whites. Also, specific populations have yet to see a decline in their increased likelihood of being uninsured compared to Whites. Between 2010 and 2018, the uninsured rate among Blacks remained 1.5 times higher than Whites, while Hispanics’ uninsured rate was nearly 2.5 times higher than Whites (Sosnovske, 2022). Gains in coverage were exceptionally high for the lowest-income people, helping to reduce the gap in uninsurance rates between the poor and the rest of the population.
Unnecessary expenses are incurred, and improvements in care quality and population health are stymied when health and healthcare inequities exist. As the population gets more varied, it becomes more critical to eliminate health inequalities. In 2050, it is expected that people of color will make up more than half of the population (Moyer et al., 2022). Efforts to reduce health and healthcare inequities are vital not just from an equality viewpoint but also for advancing health by enhancing the quality of care and the population’s health. In addition, there is a monetary penalty associated with health inequities. Premature deaths account for $27 billion in annual economic losses, while the additional cost of medical treatment caused by inequalities is estimated to be $93 billion.
A concerted and sustained effort is needed to reduce the United States’ racial/ethnic health coverage, chronic illness, mental health, and mortality gaps (Lemley, 2022). Disparities in health and health care must be addressed for the sake of social justice and equality, as well as for the health and prosperity of the country as a whole. Higher disease and mortality rates among people of color and other disadvantaged groups due to various health issues diminish the nation’s health. Costs to society have been linked to health inequalities. Economic losses owing to early deaths and higher medical expenses are estimated at $93 billion yearly, while lost productivity costs an extra $42 billion (Kapiriri& Razavi, 2022). Considering that people of color are expected to make up more than half of the population by 2050, we must work to eliminate inequalities as quickly as possible.
Predicted Outcomes and Opportunities for Growth
Future coverage losses may likely occur due to recent policy shifts and present objectives. There were measures in the ACA that helped the cause of reducing inequalities. Many underserved groups, including African-Americans, benefited from the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) coverage expansions and money for community health centers and other measures specifically aimed at eliminating inequities (Snowden & Michaels, 2022). Health and Human Services (HHS) at the federal level is taking several steps to implement its strategy to end health inequalities based on race and ethnicity, first introduced in 2011. Efforts to eliminate health inequalities are being made on many levels, including by states, local communities, commercial groups, and clinicians, and increasingly include consideration of socioeconomic issues that may affect health.
The creation of HHS agency-level Offices of Minority Health to coordinate disparity reduction initiatives is only one example of the ACA’s stated emphasis on eliminating inequalities (Snowden & Michaels, 2022). The ACA also increased financing for healthcare professional training and education materials focusing on cultural competence, as well as bolstered data collecting and research initiatives, all in an attempt to encourage diversity and cultural competency in the workplace. The ACA also established the Preventative and Public Health Fund and featured many public health and prevention programs.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there is still a long way to go to eliminate racial and socioeconomic gaps in health and health care. The COVID-19 epidemic has highlighted the severity of these inequalities and the urgency with which they must be addressed. Racism underpins structural social and economic inequalities that contribute to health disparities. Reducing inequalities is critical to our society’s well-being and our economy’s success. The federal government has made achieving fairness a top goal, and many programs have been created to reduce inequities in light of COVID-19 and beyond. Efforts to eliminate health inequalities are being made on several levels, including by states, communities, private groups, and healthcare professionals. We can achieve health equity by giving equity a high priority across all sectors, allocating resources to support efforts to advance equity, expanding data accessibility, fostering and building on community strengths and resources, establishing incentives, accountability, and oversight for equity, and acknowledging and addressing racism as the primary driver of disparities.
References
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Kapiriri, L., & Razavi, S. D. (2022). Equity, justice, and social values in priority setting: a qualitative study of resource allocation criteria for global donor organizations working in low-income countries. International Journal for Equity in Health, 21(1), 1-13. https://equityhealthj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12939-021-01565-5
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Snowden, L. R., & Michaels, E. (2022). Racial bias correlates with states having fewer health professional shortage areas and fewer federally qualified community health center sites. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 1-9. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40615-021-01223-0
Wikle, S., Wagner, J., Erzouki, F., & Sullivan, J. (2022). States Can Reduce Medicaid’s Administrative Burdens to Advance Health and Racial Equity. The Center for Law and Social P
