Critical Analysis

Health Care Disparities in America

The continuous crisis of the coronavirus outbreak has reached its peak in the United States totaling a number of 162,000 confirmed cases, 117,000 recoveries, and 58,412 deaths; with New York City being the epicenter of this medical disaster. Unfortunately, there is another problem, coinciding, that Americans have been facing: health care disparities. From the redfishstream Instagram account, there is a video clip of a woman, whose name has not been yet identified, sharing the disgusting truth about the pandemic and most importantly, the economy itself.  Issues concerning healthcare testing and accessibilities. Through the use of pathos and logos, she shares a powerful message stating that “the only thing that means something during this pandemic is money.” In other words, the working class and the lower class’ well- beings are not deemed as important or of a higher priority than the upper class. To add- on, certain minorities are twice as impacted by this than their white counterparts especially during this crisis.

In this less than five minutes video clip, this woman highlights problems the mainstream media are hardly discussing about. To start off, she explains that her sister has passed away from this disease and how New York Presbyterian Hospital had refused to test her sister until it was too late and she died. The medical staff had continuously informed the patient that she had something else such as pneumonia and bronchitis. Through the use of pathos she expresses anger and frustration in her tone from the ignorance that the American system has enforced on its people, yet she delivers this piece in a calm manner. If she were to present this in with exaggeration, she wouldn’t be taken too seriously because her audicence wouldn’t comprehend her message. She asks her audience as to why does the “rich, the famous, the ball players, the rappers, why do they all have access to the test for the coronavirus, and us people who are working and who aren’t rich, and who aren’t famous, why don’t we have access to the test?” By asking this question, she is clearly addressing the economic equalities in the United States. The large portion of citizens dying from this virus consists the working and the lower class, it comes to an answer that “we mean nothing” to the world. Politicians such as NY Governor, Andrew Cuomo, have often discussed on getting civilians tested as soon as possible, but they aren’t doing enough for this crisis due to the fact that the wealthy have gotten access ahead of time even if they weren’t in critical need.

In the Atlantic article titled, “It Pays to Be Rich during a Pandemic”, author Adam Harris provides compelling details of how the rich have taken advantage of the coronavirus testing. This connects to the video off of Instagram because, the speaker has mentioned these elite people getting access to the test in advance. NBA Utah Jazz center, Rudy Gobert, had contracted the virus and as a precaution, the league had to test the entire team. Harris explains that this team had “consumed 20 percent of the state’s entire stock of test kits.” Twenty percent of these tests were somewhat wasted on this team to whom were of higher status; it could’ve went to those who were in critical need. The author’s title of the article is a bit sarcastic yet in fact, very realistic; if one is affluent they have access to the best healthcare this country has to offer. This pandemic is more concerning for the lower class. “Those who don’t have a lot of money stashed away could really find themselves in very dire situations.” Harris believes that every person in America should be granted access to healthcare and to not have any form of discrimination prevent them from receiving it. “Our motivations should be driven by public health… and for folks who are coming in potentially with COVID- 19, it doesn’t matter if they’re a CEO of the big tech company or a homeless person off the street- they need to be appropriately cared for.” Through this, the rich have truly exploited the loopholes of this healthcare system which is believed to be the best in the world. This article from The Atlantic provides further details and agrees with the unknown woman’s claim about the wealthy people.

Whether if this has been discerned this or not, there is correlation between race and wealth in the healthcare system as it was mentioned in the video clip. To start off, minority groups such as African Americans, Hispanics and other non- whites group, typically suffer poverty twice as much than whites. It has always occurred like this since slavery and the Jim Crows days in this country. In the Center for Medicare Advocacy article titled, “Racial and Ethnic Health Care Disparities”, an anonymous author makes out valid points concerning the health care system and poverty. Points covering from the 2012- 13 US Census Bureau data where in fact “25 percent of Hispanics, 11 percent of persons of Asian descent, and 27 percent of African Americans lived in poverty while only 12 percent of Caucasians lived in poverty… 26 percent of Native American/ Alaska Natives, 18 percent of African Americans, 16 percent of persons of Asian descent, and 12 percent of native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islanders lacked health insurance.” It goes back to when the unknown woman from Instagram said that poor people and in addition, the “color of [her] skin” means nothing either. Using the logos method, providing information from the US Census allows the anonymous author’s message to be even stronger, since the Census Bureau is reliable and credible. To add-on, the author has also included that if these economic inequality were to be deleted it could possibly save the US and their health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid billions and to use that money for something else. “In a report issued in September 2009, the Urban Institute calculated that the Medicare program would save $15.6 billion per year if health disparities were eliminated.” The Urban Institute are known for providing unbiased data reports to address problems this country has. Meanwhile Wayne J. Riley, MD, provided examples of different groups of people who are more susceptible to carrying a particular disease such as heart disease or stroke, and not having access to the appropriate healthcare because of poverty plays a part in these forms of data. For instance, the life expectancy for non-white person is shorter than a white person. Riley states, “Clear disparities exist in rates of health insurance coverage among black and Latino population groups. The consequences of being uninsured are significant and include use of fewer preventive services, poorer health outcomes, higher mortality and disability rates, lower annual earnings because of sickness and disease,… An analysis by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and Johns Hopkins University explored the economic burden of health inequalities in the United States and revealed that there is a significant financial burden.” Dr. Wayne J. Riley also agrees that if this inequality towards minorities were to be uplifted it would save roughly “$1.5 trillion over a 3- year period.” That is a bit more than what the Center for Medicare Advocacy had expected. Dr. Riley’s and the Center for Medicare Advocacy‘s reports presents statisics on what the woman has argued on the aspect of race groups and its relation to wealth.

Subsequently, history has its mysterious ways of repeating itself. Within the past pandemics such as the Bubonic Plague, the “Spanish” influenza and many other forms of diseases have conquered the world prior, perishing billions worldwide, there is a pattern where the rich were of higher priority than the lower class. To be very clear, diseases and deaths see no social class, color, gender, or creed; they come after everybody. In the Washington Post, the article titled, “Of course the rich are getting tested first. The wealthy always do better during a pandemic,” Roxanne Roberts discuss that the pandemic doesn’t affect the affluent as much as it does for the unfortunate. She points out how the rich people in Manhattan have “already fled to country or beach homes”, while majority of NYC residents are stuck inside their smaller acre apartments, especially those living in New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), where conditions there are somewhat shabby. “The rich have always fared better during a public health crisis. The poor are exposed at greater rates, get sicker because often they aren’t as healthy to begin with and have higher mortality rates.” President Trump, a wealthy man himself, was recently asked as to why the upper classmen were getting before everyone and his answer was simply, “‘Perhaps that’s been the story of life.’” The wealthy are also getting their own private medical staff teams. Roberts includes past world experiences with pandemics and the number of causalities based on the social hierarchy. The Bubonic Plague ferociously wiped out a 1/3 of the world’s population in the 1300s and majority of them were poor; cholera controlled the poorest, dirtiest neighborhoods starting from India and spreading into Europe most popular countries. As Roxanne Roberts has mentioned in her title, this is too uncommon and it will most likely continue to occur this way.

Now, politicians and legislators have continually proposed new ideas and promises to remove the virus. But according to the woman, due to the amount of cases and deaths reported, it is viewed as nothing but lies. They have told us that testing for the coronavirus were indeed available to the public. NY Governor Andrew Cuomo had told his audience that “testing is a key component of re-opening the economy and getting to a new normal, and New York State is already doing more tests per capita than any state or country.” As of right now his team plan on expanding COVID-19 testing facilities into pharmacies, according to the Governor’s Office. Gov. Cuomo’s so called “promises” and his strive for testing are indeed interesting, because what the lady from Instagram had told her audience that these politicians are, in fact, not doing much for their people and that they are deceiving us. NY state and the United States, itself, aren’t doing much and the media tries to downplay the situation. The lady had given her audience the truth as to what is really going with this world especially to the underclass citizens. It’s confusing and strange because these politicians say that COVID-19 testing are of the utmost importance, but yet there are thousands of patients dying. Based on their decisions, it appears they have the intention of poor people to remove economic programs such as Obamacare that has caused an “economic burden” in this country. Priorities are systematically shifted based on what one is willing to provide, financially.

In conclusion, the unidentfied woman has brought the overall message about health care disparities in America that clearly needs change. She has brought out interesting points that would have her audience think different about the situation. In addition, her calm demeanor in delievering her message makes her presentation powerful. Money is viewed to be the only way that would most likely fit an individual’s state of well- being. Poverty must be eliminated so it can allow minorities to have access proper healthcare and bring the mortality rates lower. The politicians and the media need to start being blunt and tell the viewers the whole truth on what is really going on with the world.

Sources Cited

  • Riley MD, MPH, MBA, MACP, Wayne J. “Health Disparities: Gaps in Access, Quality, and Affordability of Medical Care.” Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association, 2012 Issue, Volume 123 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3540621/

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