Making Health Care Disparity History
Published by: John Bluford on 4/4/2011 9:15:01 AM
By decade end, racial and ethnic minorities will account for more than 40 percent of the total U.S. population. Should we expect even greater health care disparities that historically have resulted in shorter life expectancy, decreased quality of life, loss of economic opportunities and social inequality for minorities?
I optimistically believe the answer is no, but I also am a realist. Disturbing disparities will not disappear solely by addressing access to care. Unhealthy lifestyle attitudes, distrust by minorities in our health systems and, of course, confronted myriad of social disparities in housing, employment, and education must also be addressed..
Working together to deliver the benefits of the Affordable Care Act is one right step toward patient centeredness. Along with expanding insurance eligibility, we can incentivize health and wellness lifestyles while providing cultural competency training for our health care work force and state-of-the-art health information technology.
Together with collaboration and coalition building across many sectors of our society, I believe eventually we can relegate health care disparities to history’s dustbin.
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John W. Bluford
TMC President/CEO, American Hospital Association Chair