Access-to-Care in Different Situations

For this assignment you are provided with four scenarios. For each scenario, you are required to answer the following question:

• What are the access-to-care issues in the given situations? Suggest at least two solutions to address the access-to-care issues in these scenarios.

Scenarios:

• Mr. A is a 30-year-old African American male. His employer provides for his health insurance, which covers emergency room visits, hospitalization, and some preventive-care services such as yearly physicals. Whenever he schedules appointments for preventive-care services, he has to spend one to three hours at the doctor’s office. Additionally, he has to schedule follow-up appointments for laboratory tests after each office visit.
• Mrs. B is a 30-year-old African American woman with two children. She is employed at a workplace that does not provide the employees with health insurance. Mrs. B and her children make frequent visits to the emergency room for healthcare services.
• Mr. C is an unemployed 52-year-old Asian male who has not seen a doctor in at least eight years. He speaks limited English. He has been experiencing some health problems. He was recently told about a free clinic located within a couple of miles of his apartment. There are no Asian healthcare providers at the local health clinic. He has some concerns about healthcare provided by anyone other than Asian healthcare providers.
• Mrs. D and her husband, a middle-aged Caucasian couple, recently moved to a rural community. They are both on medications for chronic health conditions, which require them to go for bimonthly doctor visits. Their car recently broke down and there is limited bus service in their community. They are having a difficult time going for their appointments and obtaining their medications. They are also less motivated to seek care because they have some major disagreements with the primary care doctor who is a young woman in her early thirties.

Determinants of Health

Although inequalities in income and education underlie many health disparities, the poor are sometimes held responsible for their health status. For instance, Dr. Ichiro Kawachi, a Harvard University professor and social epidemiologist, reports that the ability to avoid negative health behaviors like smoking and eating unhealthy foods depends on access to “income, education, and the social determinants of health.” On the basis of your knowledge of the health of the poor, answer the following questions:

• Should the poor be held responsible for their health disparities? Why or why not?
• What are some common stereotypes of the poor? How do these stereotypes contribute to the poor being held responsible for their health status?
• What conditions in your community promote or hinder healthy choices?
• In addition to the above, consider the input that research on women has lagged behind research on men. Many health treatments that address health risks for women are based on research conducted on men. With reference to your understanding of the healthcare system, mention the factors that determine whether the health treatments based on research on men will be successful with women.