Health disparities and health care financing: restructuring the American health care system

Abstract

For more than seven decades there has been a systematic disregard for the health needs of certain groups of individuals. Discrepancies in treatment and privilege based on race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, class, and socio-economic status have been significant players in any portrait of American health care and have helped frame considerations of those who deserve and those undeserving of quality health care. Continuous incidences of inequitable health care practices strongly suggest a need for drastic changes in our current health care system. Although growing interest in social inequalities in health preside, health policy makers struggle to find appropriate intervention strategies to alleviate health disparities. The purpose of this article is to depict a clearer portrait of the American health care system within the context of health disparities and recognize intervention strategies to reduce/eliminate health care disparities. This article concludes with suggestions on how to refinance the American health care system based on equality principles.