Health and health care disparities refer to differences in health and health care between population groups. Disparities occur across many dimensions, including race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age, location, gender, disability status, and sexual orientation.
2. WHY DO HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE DISPARITIES MATTER?
Disparities in health and health care not only affect the groups facing disparities, but also limit overall gains in quality of care and health for the broader population and result in unnecessary costs. Addressing health disparities is increasingly important as the population becomes more diverse.
3. WHAT IS THE STATUS OF DISPARITIES TODAY?
Many groups are at disproportionate risk of being uninsured, lacking access to care, and experiencing worse health outcomes. For example, people of color and low-income individuals are more likely to be uninsured, face barriers to accessing care, and have higher rates of certain conditions compared to Whites and those at higher incomes.
4. WHAT ARE KEY INITIATIVES TO ADDRESS DISPARITIES?
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage expansions helped narrow longstanding disparities in health coverage for people of color and low income individuals. The ACA also included other provisions focused on addressing disparities and the 2011 Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Disparities Action Plan set out a series of priorities, strategies, actions, and goals to achieve a vision of “a nation free of disparities in health and health care.” States, local communities, private organizations, and providers are also engaged in efforts to reduce health disparities.
5. WHAT IS AT STAKE FOR DISPARITIES LOOKING FORWARD?
Although the ACA sharply reduced uninsured rates for people of color and low-income individuals, coverage disparities remain, and changing federal priorities could reverse recent progress reducing disparities. Continued enrollment efforts could further narrow coverage disparities, but the share of remaining nonelderly uninsured who are eligible for coverage varies by race and ethnicity. Moreover, recent reductions in funding for outreach and enrollment may limit continued coverage gains. Further, changing federal priorities could lead to coverage losses and other reverses in recent advances in reducing disparities.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was a highly educated writer. He wrote the essay called "In the Kitchen". In the script, he talks about his mother doing hair in the kitchen. The "kitchen" doesn't actually refer to a kitchen where someone would cook food. The "kitchen" is the area on the back of the head where "our neck meets the shirt collar". As Gates goes on to say, no one nor thing could straighten the kitchen. Gates begins to describe a political significance to hair by speaking of the "good" and "bad" hair. Gates attitude towards the "kitchen" is quite negative as he does not like the politics of it. They [people in general] consider white hair good hair. He believes the "process" in which a man tries to straighten his hair is pointless as it will not fix the "kitchen". The process for trying to fix it is quite expensive. It is best to trim it all off the best you can. Gates uses Frederick Douglas and Nat King Cole as examples of famous African-Americans to argue, to his point, that even the most expensive or unorthodox way of trying to fix your "kitchen" simply does not work
In "Uprising, how does the shifting point of view help you understand the similarities and differences among the three characters? During each account we find out more about the characters backgrounds and goals.
