Re: Studying racial health care disparities isn't enough

Skeptic wrote: " The issue is a lot more complex the simplistic post
below and if you want to seriously discuss it you can start by giving
more than cheap lip service."

My response: You dismiss the existence of racial inequality
particularly where it applies to health care with cheap shots like the
above. The most knowledgeable individuals and leading healthcare
institutions in the country have recently called attention to the same
sad state of health care disparities in this country, citing numerous
scientifically obtained results. For your education:

Decades of Work to Reduce Disparities in Health Care Produce Limited
Success
Voelker, JAMA.2008; 299: 1411-1413.

Race, Ethnicity and Health Care
Numerous studies over the past two decades have documented racial/
ethnic differences ... So, what more can be done to eliminate health
care disparities and ...
www.kaiseredu.org/uploadedFiles/005_race_caya.ppt

Minority Health: Racial Disparities - Kaiser Family Foundation.
Numerous studies over the past two decades have documented racial/
ethnic disparities in health and health care. Surveys of the public
and of health care ...
www.kff.org/minorityhealth/disparities.cfm

AHRQ Focus on Research: Disparities in Health CareDisparities in
health care have been well documented in recent decades across a broad
range of medical conditions and for a wide range of populations. ...
www.ahrq.gov/news/focus/disparhc.htm

Journal of the American College of Cardiology : Disparities
in ...Evidence of racial/ethnic disparities in health care. Numerous
studies over the past two decades have documented racial/ethnic
differences in the medical ...
linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0735109704009994

National Healthcare Disparities Report
have documented disparities in healthcare services, these examinations
were ...... many decades, the study of disparities in the quality of
health care is ...
www.hablamosjuntos.org/resources/pdf/nhdr03.pdf

Skeptic, I'm sure the folks at The Black Commentator www.blackcommentator.com
which ran the article would chuckle at your naieve question: "How much
of that might be due to socio-economic differences just conveniently
(or incitingly) expressed as racial differences?"

Healthy skeptism is one thing. Being in total denial is another.
--Kat

On Apr 16, 6:46 pm, "Skeptic" <bcs0...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
How much of what you post below is actual "racial inequality"?  Do you know?
Does anyone?  Can it even be quantitated?  Because there exist other
reasons.  While I have no doubt that there are some racial issues left in
this country, that's not necessarily the explanation for your post below.
How much of that might be due to socio-economic differences just
conveniently (or incitingly) expressed as racial differences?  How much of
that is a funtion of biology?  What about health concerns that show the
opposite demographic - such as kidney stones afflicting whites far more than
blacks?  If you're going to assume the higheer incidence of AIDS with blacks
is because of racial disparity, is it reverse racial disparity that more
whites get kidney stones... or reverse sexism that more men get kidney
stones?  Or is it a function of socioeconomic diferences?  Or something
diferrent about the renal handling of calcium and oxalate between the races
and genders?  The issue is a lot more complex the simplistic post below and
if you want to seriously discuss it you can start by giving more than cheap
lip service.

"Kat" <fleshandst...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:c265b4b4-b29f-4945-983a-7bc6144b1ce6@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx://www.fleshandstone.net/policy_trends/healthcareandrace.html
Decades of studies documenting health care disparities have failed to
result in policy changes.

The American Cancer Society recently came out with a new batch of
statistics on cancer prevalence and death rates. While the news might
appear positive overall and reflect advances in cancer treatments and
screening technology, the United States continues to deliver the best
care to wealthier, white citizens.

The ACS’s news release touched on how race affects health care
outcomes:

"African American men have a 19 percent higher incidence rate and 37
percent higher death rate from all cancers combined than white men.
African American women have a six percent lower incidence rate, but a
17 percent higher death rate than white women for all cancers
combined."

It isn’t only cancer. African-American men and women are twice as
likely as whites to die of cerebrovascular disease or experience
stroke, according to the National Institutes of Health. The rate of
AIDS cases among African Americans is 10 times higher than for Whites,
according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, part of
the department of Health and Human Services.

It’s a rare week when we don't see a new study showing how health care
lags for African Americans:

Blacks awaiting lung transplants more likely to die or be denied than
whites
Blacks More Likely to Die of Severe Sepsis
Blacks, Hispanics less likely to get strong pain drugs in emergency
rooms
Blacks in Poor Areas Less Likely to Be On Kidney Transplant Lists
Poorer Blood Pressure Control in Blacks With Heart Failure
Prostate Cancer More Likely To Return In Blacks Than Whites
Black Women Get Less Breast Cancer Treatment
Older blacks and Latinos still lag whites in controlling diabetes

And if you’re African American and living in the South, your health
prospects are even bleaker. In a study presented at the American
Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference in 2005
researchers reported that African Americans living in the South were
at the greatest disadvantage for combating stroke.

http://www.fleshandstone.net/policy_trends/healthcareandrace.html

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