Explaining Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care

Abstract

Researchers and policymakers may need to broaden the scope of factors they consider as barriers to access if the goal of eliminating disparities in health care is to be achieved.

The Effects of Financial Pressures on Adherence and Glucose Control Among Racial/Ethnically Diverse Patients with Diabetes

“…Previous studies have found that socioeconomic differences such as insurance status explained a significant portion of the general health disparities that exist among racial/ethnic minorities. 2,3 Specifically among patients with diabetes, healthcare access and insurance status have been shown to explain some, but not all, of the disparities in glucose control among Latinos. 4,5 Asian…”

Transforming Clinical Practice to Eliminate Racial–Ethnic Disparities in Healthcare

“…10 Although many of the differences in health and health care use are related to differences in socioeconomic factors and access to care, most research has found that racial-ethnic disparities persist even after adjustment for these factors. [1][2][3][4][5]8,11,12 Elimination of racial-ethnic health care disparities requires action on multiple levels of health care organization and delivery. The IOM's report, "Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care," makes recommendations aimed at the health care system or institutional level.…”

Economic Conditions at School Leaving and Sleep Patterns Across the Life Course

“…Although the original applications explored wage differentials across groups the method can be applied to understand why two groups have differences in a wide range of outcome variables, including health variables (Kirby, Taliaferro, and Zuvekas 2006;Powell et al 2012). In our context, we compare individuals in the top and bottom halves of the empirical distribution of our sample of school-leaving state unemployment rates.…”