How to Fix Racial Inequities in the U.S. Health System
Three experts discuss why health care needs a paradigm shift — and how to get there
Covid-19 has illuminated the stark racial inequities that exist in the United States’ health care system. The risk of dying from the novel coronavirus is up to nine and eight times higher for young Black and Latinx Americans, respectively, compared to white Americans. Experts say this disparity is in large part explained by the fact that people of color are more likely to work in jobs deemed essential during the pandemic, often with minimal protections against the virus. Other factors at play are limited access to health care and higher rates of pre-existing conditions due to chronic stress and systemic racism, placing them at an increased risk for severe infection and death from the virus.
In June, three physicians and public health experts — Aletha Maybank, MD, MPH, chief health equity officer for the American Medical Association; Jonathan Metzl, MD, PhD, professor of sociology and psychiatry at Vanderbilt University; and Fernando De Maio, PhD, professor of sociology at DePaul University — penned a piece for the Journal of the American Medical Association about the inequities that exist in health care and how to resolve the injustices with an anti-racism lens. Elemental recently followed…
