An Increased Awareness of the Disparities in Care Received Among Black And White Medicare Enrollees



An Increased Awareness of the Disparities in Care Received Among Black And White Medicare Enrollees

Literature Review

Ethnic or racial disparity is increasingly evident in the healthcare providence among black and white Medicare enrollees. This research incorporates literature from various credible sources that provide information related to ethnic disparity in healthcare system of United States, which specifically includes the evidence regarding healthcare disparity and the measures taken for reducing this disparity. The literature collected for review is mainly based on the information gathered from government or healthcare organization of U.S.

Healthcare Disparities in Medicare Received by Black and White Patients

Evidences for Healthcare Disparities

The healthcare received by black and white medicare enrollees represents high disparity. In United States, documented disparities exist between various ethnic and racial minority populations and the majority white population on quite a lot of health and heath care indicators (Benz et al, 2010). These include quality of and access to health care, sickness pervasiveness, child mortality, and life expectancy. But the awareness regarding these disparities are still limited, however, it is the most crucial step (first step) towards altering behavior and convincing actions. Therefore, it is very much required that the society must be aware of this disparity and take actions accordingly.

A survey conducted by group of researchers in 2010, involved about three thousand adults aged 18 or more than that, indicated that only fifty nine percent of the people were aware of the healthcare disparities that excessively influence Hispanics or Latinos and African Americans (Benz et al, 2010). Similar survey was conducted in the year 1999, which showed that only fifty five percent of Americans were aware of these disparities. It indicates that since last ten years, there is just a slight increase in this awareness. Furthermore, survey also pointed out low levels of awareness among ethnic and racial minority groups regarding healthcare providence disparities that excessively influence their own communities. For instance, only fifty four percent of African Americans were aware of the HIV rate disparity among them and white Americans, and only twenty one percent of Latinos or Hispanics were aware of that disparity between whites and their community (Benz et al, 2010). Thus, it is highly evident that society is really not well aware of the healthcare disparity between blacks and whites, therefore, the policy makers are required to enhance the quality and availability of ethnic and racial disparity data, and to develop enhanced measures for targeting educational campaigns for increasing awareness of medicare disparity.

The IOM conducted a research on request of Congress in 1999, which assessed the extent of this disparity, identifies potential sources for it, and suggest interventions (CLBC, 2012). Generally, this research indicates that Latinos and African Americans tend to get lower quality of care across a variety of illness areas (such as cardiovascular sickness, cancer, HIV/AIDS, and many other infectious diseases); white Americans are more likely to desirable services than the black Americans like ...