Health Inequalities in Social Class

Health Inequalities in Social Class

Health inequalities can be defined as unfair and avoidable differences in an individual’s health across the globe. In the US, health inequality is used to describe racial disparities in healthcare. Health inequalities go against various principles of social justice since they are preventable. Disparities in health do not occur by chance or haphazardly. However, they are socially determined by conditions and other circumstances that an individual cannot control. Health bias issues will later affect people and limit them from accessing healthy lives or even living longer. In a nutshell, the existence of health inequalities implies the right of every individual to obtain an attainable mental and physical health is not equally enjoyed across the globe (Reid, Colleen, 2017). The primary purposes of this essay are to address the health inequalities that exist in the social class.

Firstly, it has been revealed that people in the lower class are disadvantaged from accessing health facilities. Families that live in extreme poverty lack the financial power to cater to the medical bills, both for themselves and the kids as well. In low-income families, funds are inadequate to acquire proper diet and nourishment. There exists health inequality since the rich and the middle-class owners access all the health facilities at any bill. The disparities make the service providers in these facilities to set their prices higher to the extent that the lower class occupants cannot afford. The government should reduce this inequality since it violates the principle of social justice (Reid, Colleen, 2017). The government should set fund initiatives that will cater to the health of the poor and marginalized people in society. Through such efforts, the inequality gap will be reduced at all levels, and social justice will be upheld.

Secondly, health inequality is also revealed regarding an individual’s purchasing power. It is a fact that social capital usually plays a vital role in an individual’s health and the entire society as well. According to research, those individuals who have exceptional access to a high percentage of resources have an added advantage in maintaining a healthy life. The study also links access to more resources to living longer (Kirsch, Love, Radler and  Ryff, 2019). Therefore, segregating individuals based on the level of resources they have has a significant impact on the quality of health services they will get. Health biasness based on resources can be combated by a social intervention that will augment the health sectors by ensuring the community has the resources necessary has to access the social funds. For instance, if more death is as a result of cancer, the government may provide free treatment to the citizen since it is expensive therapy and the poor cannot afford.

Thirdly, there is evidence every day, 16,030 children die before celebrating their 5th birthday. Most of these deaths are a result of the illness that emanates from poor diet and poor living conditions. Most of the ailments that affect their children are malaria, pneumonia, diarrhea, and TB. Children from rural areas and more impoverished backgrounds are mostly affected by such diseases (Hodgetts & Stolte, 2017). Since the parents of these children do not afford the treatment bill, the children die before the age of five. To prevent child mortality, the state should provide immunization and free checkups for young children and provide proper living conditions. For example, the health sector should issue mosquito nets that will prevent the mothers and their children from malaria infections.

Besides, maternal mortality is a significant indicator of health inequality. Maternal mortality is considered a health issue that indicates the gap that exists between the poor and the rich. Poor people and the marginalized in the society lack the potential to cater to the maternal bill and thus opt to deliver at home. Home delivery is associated with various risks that may cause both physical and mental challenges when the child is still growing. The child may also die because of the mother and lack the expertise to offer the required service (Kirsch, Love, Radler and  Ryff, 2019). There exists health inequality in the world, and 99% of maternal deaths are from developing countries (Hønneland, Geir, 2017). To eliminate this inequality, the state should give services like free maternal care that will ensure expectant mothers get the required services both for them and their newborns. The initiative will also reduce maternal deaths by more than 33% according to the undertaken studies.

Similarly, various diseases are referred to affect poor people alone. Such a mentality is a clear indication that there is health inequality. For instance, tuberculosis is meant to be a disease for the poor. It is also considered as a health inequality since more than 95% of the TB deaths are in the developing countries. In developed countries, the government can cater to health issues and offer the best services to the residents, thus increasing their life expectancy (Kirsch, Love, Radler and  Ryff, 2019). Due to poor living conditions, the poor will be prone to contracting TB and other related infections. Since the poor also lack the purchasing power to access the health services to treat these infections, they become ignorant, and the disease may develop to more resistance form that will be hard to manage. As a result, the children may end up dying. Therefore, the government should provide a remedy for these illnesses by ensuring drugs are available to all and are being prescribed for free in all public facilities.

Lastly, HIV is associated with poverty. People who live in poverty always strive to do anything that can give them funds to cater for their necessities. In most cases, women engage in activities like prostitution and robbery. Prostitution makes one prone to HIV infection and other sexually transmitted illnesses (Reid, Colleen, 2017). There are health inequalities since the higher income earners are at a low risk of being infected than the poor. Also, the infected rich people can afford the recommended diet and therapy that the lower class people cannot afford.

Health inequality exists in every part of the globe but more extreme in developing countries. Many scholars have come up with different shreds of evidence that indicates how health inequality violates the principles of social justice. Health inequality mostly affects the poor and the marginalized in society since they lack the funds and the purchasing power of the services. A country that has health inequalities implies that the right to access the physical and mental health services is not enjoyed equally. Though health inequalities are beyond human control, the state should try as much to minimize them. However, various governments have attempted to reduce the disparity using different approaches such as free maternal health care and free cancer therapy and treatment. These approaches are essential, and they help in minimizing the health gap between the poor and the rich.

Healthcare inequality in all cases of the world increases the medical care cost. From the analysis of the issue, it is evident that healthcare inequality in the US, as well as other parts of the world, correlate with income inequality. It is thus correct to say that the higher the income, the better services that an individual can receive in healthcare services across the globe. Besides, low-income earners or class of people in the US as well as in the other parts of the world are prone to sickness as compared to the wealthier class. Further, the areas with low-income earners experience healthcare disparities; thus, they lack access to quality medical technology as well as standardized hospital facilities.

The other problem that has been evidenced to intensify healthcare inequality in the US and across the world is the rising cost of medical care. A considerable population of people goes without medical care across the globe due to unaffordability. The cost of healthcare can lead people to poverty. Several families have been pushed down to poverty as a result of medical bills. Research shows that about four million individuals were pushed below the federal economy poverty line in 2018 due to medical costs (Kirsch, Love, Radler and  Ryff, 2019). It has rendered several families bankrupt all over the world. The fact that insurance companies on the health sector have regularly increased cost medical while the employers reduce their share has intensified the situation even further for many people.

Moreover, there has been inequality in healthcare insurance. Many low-class earners do not qualify for Medicaid in the US as well as in many parts of the world. In America, the only alternative for these families is the subsidized Obama-care, which is limited to cover specific hospitals as well as doctor’s practices. Besides, in marginalized areas, medical cover services may, to a certain degree, be insufficient. This has been the case in America and many other parts of the world. While in the US, there is a policy like Obamacare, in many countries, such medical subsidies are not available, which worsens the situation much more for the low-income earners. It is worth noting that it is not easy to get a well-paying job when chronically ill. Further, the elderly populations are more predisposed to diseases and at the same time, they are likely to be reduced. These all are the facts that are associated with health inequality throughout the world.

Work Cited

Hodgetts, Darrin, and Ottilie Stolte. Urban poverty and health inequalities: A relational

approach. Routledge, 2017.

Hønneland, Geir. Health as international politics: combating infectious diseases in the

Baltic sea region. Routledge, 2017.

Kirsch, J. A., Love, G. D., Radler, B. T., & Ryff, C. D. (2019). Scientific imperatives vis-à-vis

growing inequality in America. American Psychologist.

Reid, Colleen. The wounds of exclusion: Poverty, women’s health, and social justice. Routledge, 2017.