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Complete 6 pages APA formatted article: How Does Income and Education Create Health Disparite in the United States.
Complete 6 pages APA formatted article: How Does Income and Education Create Health Disparite in the United States. The current dilemma American society is facing is that medical expenses have skyrocketed and medical insurance coverage has become very expensive. In 2008 the total average annual premium for family medical insurance coverage is $12,680 which represents a 5% increase in cost in comparison with the previous year (Kff, 2008). Within the United States society, there are health disparities among its citizens. Health disparity is defined as the differences in the incidence, prevalence, morbidity, and burden of disease and adverse health conditions that exist among specific population groups (Kamble & Boyd, 2008). Two demographic factors that can cause health disparities are income and education.
Some examples of health disparities include differences in access to health care, the discrepancy in disease patterns, quality of life and mortality, and differences in the quality and delivery of health care (Kamble, et al. 2008). Health insurance is a very important factor that affects a person’s access to medical services. The disease a person is suffering determines the costs associated with the treatment of that disease. People suffering from heart disease need specialized procedures such as percutaneous coronary interventions. In 1995 the National Registry of Myocardial Infraction performed a study of 17,600 hearts to determine the effect health insurance had on the doctor’s treatment of the patients. One of the findings was that in hospitals with higher traffic of uninsured patients there was a great underutilization of revascularization procedures (Kamble, et al. 2008). The general result of the study was that health insurance dictates the medical treatment options a hospital or doctor chooses. Even if a person has health insurance the quality of the health plan is important. The more expensive a medical is the greater its coverage. The income of a person determines if the individual can afford a plan or not.
