Hot Topics: Health Disparities

Blog Posts (4)

June 10, 2013

A Tale of Two (or Three) States

Kayhan Parsi, JD, PhD

I recently learned that my home state of Texas has refused to participate in Medicaid expansion that is part and parcel of the Affordable Care Act.…

May 9, 2013

Magical NC Bill Builds Obstacles to Teen Health

Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

If you’re a teen in North Carolina, a new bill before the legislature may make it more difficult for you to get sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment, mental health counseling, pregnancy care or even substance abuse treatment.…

May 1, 2013

Maybe Size Does Matter

by Craig Klugman Ph.D.

Most of us know about the health risks of being obese. These include gallstones, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, coronary artery disease, stroke, sleep apnea, gout, arthritis, asthma, metabolic syndrome, cancer, and infertility.…

April 22, 2013

Mouthing Off: Oral Health for Seniors is a Matter of Social Justice

Nanette R. Elster, JD MPH

When we think about primary care, we think about health promotion, disease prevention, treatment of acute illness and management of chronic disease, as well as an initial point of contact into the health care system for many.…

News (44)

May 2, 2013 4:26 pm

Most people aren't meeting exercise guidelines

Most adults in the USA aren’t meeting the federal physical activity recommendations for both aerobic exercise and muscle-strengthening activity, according to government statistics out today.

March 5, 2013 1:43 pm

Warren Lee Hill, and His Cause, Live to Fight Another Day (The Atlantic)

30 minutes before the moment of his lethal injection, two courts stay the execution of a mentally retarded prisoner so that they can evaluate his case.

January 18, 2013 11:55 am

Segregation tied to more lung cancer deaths: study (Yahoo News)

Black lung cancer patients seem more likely to die of the disease than white cancer patients in the U.S., especially those living in segregated counties, according to a new study.

January 9, 2013 3:01 pm

Obesity, lack of insurance cited in U.S. health gap (Yahoo)

Overeating, lack of health insurance access and comparatively high poverty are among the many reasons why Americans are less healthy and die younger than people in other wealthy countries, a report requested by the U.S. government showed on Wednesday.

November 14, 2012 5:24 pm

Racism Is Bad for Health (IPS)

Because of cultural and social conventions in Brazil “blacks are seen in terms of stereotypes, and that leads to them not having the same guarantees in healthcare treatment as whites have,” Crisfanny Souza Soares, a psychologist with the National Network for Social Monitoring and Health of the Black Population, told IPS.

June 13, 2012 9:17 am

Are Blacks Predisposed to Be Less Healthy Than Whites? (TIME)

A recently released study suggests that one’s race might influence one’s ability to prevent obesity. According to the June issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, exercise is less likely to lead to weight loss for black adolescent girls than for white adolescent girls.

June 7, 2012 3:29 pm

More Hispanics die waiting for a heart transplant (Reuters)

Hispanic patients in need of a heart transplant are 50 percent more likely to die before they get one than white patients, according to new research. And although that wasn’t the case for black transplant patients in the study, the results suggest they have a higher chance of dying soon after they’ve received a donor heart than whites.

June 7, 2012 12:03 am

Denial of Transplants for Undocumented Sparks Protest in Chicago (Fox News)

A group headed by a Salvadoran-born priest are completing the third day of a hunger strike to protest the refusal by two Chicago hospitals to perform organ transplants on unauthorized immigrants who lack health insurance.

June 1, 2012 8:36 am

Sick in America: Hispanics Grapple With Cost And Quality Of Care (NPR)

In our recent poll on what it means to be sick in America, one ethnic group stands out as having special problems – Hispanic Americans. The national survey, conducted by NPR with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health, sheds new light on Hispanics’ health issues. It runs counter to the widespread impression that African-Americans are worst-off when it comes to the cost and quality of health care.

May 7, 2012 11:00 am

Health disparities persist as overall care quality slowly improves (American Medical News)

Health disparities continue to plague the U.S. health care system, but small gains are giving federal officials some hope that progress will be made in years ahead with implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality released its ninth annual National Healthcare Disparities Report and the National Healthcare Quality Report on April 20. The reports showed that although overall quality improved at a rate of 2.5% per year between 2002 and 2008, access to care did not.

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