Exploring Disparities in US Health Care Access

Over the past couple of years, disparities in access to healthcare have become more evident than ever in our society. These disparities can occur based on a number of economic, racial, ethnic, and geographical factors. For instance, in 2021 in the United States, non-Hispanic and Black women had an average of 69.9 deaths for every 100,000 live births. This was a significant increase from 2020 with 14.6 more deaths. This is a shocking statistic because our medicine and technology is advancing, but we still can not fix the gaps in our healthcare system. 

With the rise of abortion bans, more women are forced to carry their pregnancy which is riskier to women’s health than terminating. Thus, the overturn of Roe v. Wade could lead to a rise in maternal mortality rates. Women of color, as a result of the deep-rooted racism in our society, are the most vulnerable to the consequences of these policies. Black women in particular have been subjected to a repeating cycle of oppression by American systems and policies, as well as implicit bias in the health care system. Health care providers may subconsciously dismiss the symptoms of women of color or provide these patients with an inferior quality of care. Other social factors including housing instability, food insecurity, and economic inequality can have adverse impacts on women’s health, making women of color even more susceptible to health issues in pregnancy and higher rates of maternal mortality.  

There is not an immediate solution to these issues, but rather a gradual approach. The U.S. needs to promote equity and equality when it comes to healthcare access, whether this means providing more accessible government-based health insurance, or opening more hospitals in lower-income areas to care for the people who need it most. Although during the pandemic, there was a lot of new legislation passed to help address health care access disparities relating to treatment and vaccination for COVID, this effort needs to be expanded to pregnancy-related issues – especially with a possible increase in pregnancies due to the overturn of Roe v. Wade. The CU Population Center estimated that we are likely to see a “21% increase in the number of pregnancy-related deaths for all women and a 33% increase among Black women, compared with rates for 2017.” To counteract these unjust scenarios and create new and progressive legislation, more grassroots activism and advocacy are desperately needed.