There are people in the United States living in conditions similar to those of the developing world. In Washington D.C., among the black community, HIV rates are higher than those in seven African nations that receive funding from the US for HIV prevention and treatment (Teblas). In addition, many Native Americans in the United States are denied treatment for serious illnesses, some even dying while on the waiting list for treatment, or suffering from full-blown breast cancer when, if they had received treatment earlier, the warning lump could have been treated easily. According to a recent New York Times article, in Native American hospital nationally there is a 20% deficit in doctors and a 25% deficit of nurses.
With regard to the Native Americans, the issue appears to be that some politicians believe that since the United States has given the Native Americans rights to their land, they should not have to subsidize their healthcare on that land. This is an interesting dilemma. It appears that the politicians apposing these subsidies have a grudge against the Native Americans for insisting on having their own independent reservations. Because, why not use the same argument for not giving aid to African nations? It does not make sense to deny Native Americans funding while sending aid far away to Africa.
Furthermore, with regard to the African American community, there is no excuse for having such healthcare disparities. African Americans tend to receive inferior care in a wide range of diseases and are also often subject to higher rates of illness. This seems to me to be unacceptable. There is no reason for African Americans (nor Native Americans) to receive inferior treatment to whites while living in the same country.
Sources:
“New Hopes on Health Care for American Indians.” New York Times. 1 Dec. 2009.
“Research Finds Wide Disparities in Health Care by Race and Region.” New York Times. 5 Jun. 2008.
Pablo Teblas. World AIDS Week Talk – Rocky Private Dining Room Dec. 1.
1 comment:
The main problem with these health disparities in our society is that they do not come directly from racism or prejudice, but rather through the entrenched socio-economic classes in this country, which break down pretty neatly along racial lines. African Americans do not receive poor health care because they are black, they receive poor health care because they are poor. Of course, the predominant poverty of the African American community has a great deal to do with their race's treatment and history in the United States, but because there is an indirect rather than a direct correlation between race and quality of health care, a loophole of accountability is created. The debate is shifted from, "Why aren't we providing equal health care for black people and white people?" to, "Why aren't we providing equal health care for rich people and poor people?" the sort of difficult question people chalk up to how things are rather than get angry enough about to do something. The fact stands, however, that we suffer from a discriminatory health care system, one that marginalizes particular races as a result of their socio-economic status. Hopefully, voters will be able to recognize this as we attempt to move forward with future health care reforms.
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