The Perpetuation of Racism in Healthcare: A Closer Look into the American Healthcare Industry

Racism in healthcare is a deep-rooted issue in the American healthcare industry, impacting millions of residents everyday. Rooted in inequities, this racism is perpetuated through biased treatments, policy measures, and accesses of care. This structural racism is reflected in disparities that range across a wide spectrum, including access to health insurance, quality of care, and prevalence of chronic diseases within these marginalized communities. These communities are often given diagnoses later in the course of treatment and receive less effective treatment compared with their white counterparts.

Conscious or unconscious bias may be carried out by health professionals in their clinical decisions. For example, several studies reveal how Black patients less often receive pain medication as compared to white patients coming in with similar symptoms. These biases are perpetrated in systemic barriers, such as fewer medical facilities in minority-dense neighborhoods and poor insurance coverage, affecting BIPOC patients disproportionately.

Policy and systemic reform are essential in addressing these inequities. Integrating anti-racism training in medical education, enforcing an improvement of diversity in health leadership, and advocating for universal access to health services are a few steps we can take to lessen the systematic racism present in modern-day medicine. Awareness is the first step; however, action is needed: change needs a collective will from healthcare providers, policymakers, and communities. It is for this reason that addressing racism in health care is not only a moral imperative but also a major step to be taken toward the quest for an equitable and efficient health care system for all.