Essay on Healthcare Disparities in the United States - Hawaii

Healthcare disparities refer to the differences in incidence, occurrence, mortality, the liability of illness, and related adverse health outcomes existing in specific population clusters (Adepoju et al., 2015). In the State of Hawaii, healthcare disparities often affect people depending on their socioeconomic status. Adverse health issues, such as getting exposed to more significant health risks, are prevalent among groups that have consistently experienced social disadvantages. Notably, the existing health disparities transform into health inequalities following the unjust distribution of resources. Research shows that most Individuals of lower socioeconomic status in Hawaii lack the necessary resources to support healthy life choices, and are prone to suffering from chronic health illnesses (Pobutsky et al., 2011). Therefore, the social ladder has an imperative role in determining an individual’s chance of illness and long life in Hawaii (Pobutsky et al., 2011). This essay assesses healthcare disparities and an initiative to reduce it in Hawaii.

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The State of Hawaii has developed an initiative to provide state-level resources to aid in tackling healthcare disparities and lower the level of health inequalities in the community (Okihiro et al., 2014). For instance, the state has started a program that offers free preventive healthcare to communities, especially women, from low socioeconomic status. Low-income families have also been provided with healthcare insurance through Obama Care, which helps in the gradual elimination of disparities in access to healthcare. However, in its approaches, the state government must also consider and understand the causes of health disparity in Hawaii. The most appropriate means to eliminate health disparities by the Hawaii government is improving the state’s socioeconomic status and access to healthcare for all Hawaiians (Thornton et al., 2016).

In conclusion, healthcare disparities in the state of Hawaii get influenced by its population’s socioeconomic status. It gets evidenced by socially disadvantaged individuals lacking resources to support healthy life choices, which exposes them to various illnesses. The state of Hawaii should improve its population's social-economic status while providing and access to healthcare.

References

Adepoju, O. E., Preston, M. A., & Gonzales, G. (2015). Health care disparities in the post–Affordable Care Act era. American Journal of Public Health, 105(S5), S665-S667. https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302611

Okihiro, M., Sehgal, V., Wilkinson, T., Voloch, K. A., Enos, R., & O'Brien, J. (2014). Addressing Health Disparities by Building Organizational Capacity in the Community: A Case Study of the Wai ‘anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center. Hawai'i Journal of Medicine & Public Health, 73(12 Suppl 3), 34. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4271350/

Pobutsky, A., Bradbury, E., & Wong, Tomiyasu, D. (2011). Chronic disease disparities report 2011: Social determinants. Honolulu: Hawaii State Department of Health, Chronic Disease Management, and Control Branch. https://health.hawaii.gov/healthequity/files/2013/08/CD_BurdenReport_FINAL.pdf

Thornton, R. L., Glover, C. M., Cené, C. W., Glik, D. C., Henderson, J. A., & Williams, D. R. (2016). Evaluating strategies for reducing health disparities by addressing the social determinants of health. Health Affairs, 35(8), 1416-1423. https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/pdf/10.1377/hlthaff.2015.1357