Systemic Racism & Healthcare

As the country continues to pull back the curtain on systemic racism, we’d be remiss to not address racial discrimination and disparity in the U.S. healthcare system.

Systemic racism is connected to several factors that negatively impact the health of Black Americans and other minorities, and the Covid-19 pandemic further highlighted its severity.

Many of these disparities are associated with socioeconomic challenges, such as inadequate housing, poor diets, high unemployment, and low-wage jobs.

Low-income housing is usually in areas with the most environmental hazards, such as pollution and toxic waste. These hazards increase the risk of some health conditions.

Disparities in access to healthy food lead to poor diet. Often, there is a lack of stores in low-income communities that sell fresh, healthy foods. Additionally, low-income BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color) families can’t afford a healthy diet and rely on processed foods and cheap fast food. An unhealthy diet puts them at greater health risks, especially when it comes to diabetes and heart disease. For example, studies have shown that Blacks are two to three times more likely to die of preventable heart disease than Whites and are 60 percent more likely to have diabetes.

Low-income workers are the most uninsured or underinsured because of the cost, making healthcare financially inaccessible, and their jobs are less likely to offer health coverage. They also have less access to medical care due to the lack of facilities in their community and transportation.

Studies have shown that Black communities are 67 percent more likely to lack a local primary care physician, even though Blacks have higher health risks. Furthermore, hospitals in low-income neighborhoods tend to be underfunded, limiting access to timely and quality healthcare.

When going outside their communities, BIPOC people often have faced healthcare providers with implicit biases, causing them to be treated differently from White patients. For example, a Journal of Clinical Oncology study showed that Black women are less likely to undergo testing meant to detect early signs of cancer and other illnesses, mainly because doctors fail to recommend them.

Blacks are also more likely to suffer from mental health disorders, such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Then, due to racial disparities in misdiagnosis, many Blacks are incarcerated because of their symptoms.

Even when BIPOC people have access to healthcare, many hesitate to seek care out of fear and distrust. Take, for example, the Covid-19 vaccine. While the virus has more significantly impacted people of color, Blacks express a high degree of reluctance to get the vaccine – something developed to save their lives.

Why is that? Mainly because of the way they have been mistreated, taken advantage of, and otherwise abused by the system. Too many had their Covid-19 symptoms dismissed or they were turned away from hospitals. For example, studies have shown pulse oximeters (the fingertip monitor that assesses oxygen saturation levels) are three times more likely to give misleading readings in blacks. Apparently, the device doesn’t work as well on dark skin (it was designed and tested for white skin), so health problems are left undetected.

Some Blacks were forced to work in dangerous conditions because their jobs were deemed essential.

There is also a deep-rooted fear that goes back to the Tuskegee Study. In 1932, the U.S. Public Health Service promised free medical care to recruit rural Black men in Macon County, AL, to participate in the “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male.” Approximately 600 low-income males (many of whom had syphilis) were tracked for 40 years. However, during that time, the participants were lied to and provided fake treatments.

Even after penicillin became widely available as an effective treatment 15 years later, the drug was withheld from them, leading to severe health problems, blindness, and death.

These racial disparities just scratch the surface. However, the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement have thrust racial inequalities into the spotlight, showing us all that these issues can no longer be ignored. The color of someone’s skin should not be a factor in receiving quality medical care. The passing of the Affordable Care Act has led to some improvements; still, more must be done. As a country we can and must do better.

Mark M. Bello, a trial lawyer, is the author of “Betrayal in Black" and other ‘ripped from the headlines’ Zachary Blake Social Justice Legal Thrillers available on Amazon.com and other online booksellers. For more information, please visit www.markmbello.com. Mark also is co-host of the new podcast, Justice Counts, now streaming.