Healthcare Varies Among Economic Differences

Today in the United States of America, the race and culture that a person is raised in determines the quality of health care he or she will receive for a lifetime. Minority patients tend to receive a lower quality of health care as opposed to patients who are the same race as their doctor. Minorities reported to be less satisfied with visits to the doctor (Schnittker and Liang 811). This action puts minority patients’ health at risk and can cause them many consequences in the long run. Doctors should work on improving their relationship with minority patients by learning how to communicate verbally and nonverbally with them, educating themselves on how different cultures show symptoms to diseases, and entitling minorities to health insurance.
The U.S. population should be aware how important it is for doctors to maintain a strong relationship with minority patients. “One in three residents of the U.S. identify as either African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino or multiracial. By the year 2050, the number of minorities is expected to be one in two” (Eliminating Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Health Care: What are the Options?” 2008). The rate of minorities is increasing rapidly throughout America; therefore, white doctors are being exposed to more minorities than in the past. Since minorities will make up most of the U.S. in the upcoming decades, doctors need to learn how to give these groups the best health care possible. Most doctors are familiar with treating patients that are their own race, so doctors need to learn how to treat patients who are different from them since the rate of these groups are going up. Since so many minority patients are not satisfi...

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...cate themselves about different cultures, and entitle minorities to health insurance. Although doctors might not see any issues in their poor relationships with minority patients since they are a minority in the whole population, doctors need to be prepared when minorities take over most of the United States. If minorities keep receiving the same quality of healthcare they are receiving today, the United States will be full of unhealthy people who have no trust in their doctors. The U.S. has many other issues that need to be focused on, and healthcare is one that can be taken care of if doctors and the healthcare industry took the time to work on their relationships with minority patients. It’s time for doctors to stand up and change his or her relationship with minority patients so America’s health can be saved and it can become a healthy environment for everyone.