Affordable Care Act

Why do we need the Affordable Care Act? (ACA) Why is it so important?  The Affordable Care Act became law on March 23, 2010.  It was put in place to help more Americans afford health care, and also to lower health care rates.  By the year 2014, it will be required to have health insurance either with a persons’ employer or through the government’s health insurance.  If a person does not comply, there will be a penalty enforced by the I.R.S.  Who will this law benefit? Will it make a difference with SES? Will it make a difference with race?

“Statistics indicate that racial and ethnic minorities are generally poorer than whites and more likely to have family incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. In 2002 more than half of African Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians/Alaska Natives were poor or near-poor. Researchers note that low SES is usually associated with poor access to care, riskier behavior, fewer community resources, and higher mortality. Racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to be uninsured as well. In 2002 more than 20 percent of African Americans and more than 30 percent of Hispanics were uninsured. Hispanics are the most likely of any racial and ethnic minority to be uninsured.  Researchers also note that when they control for SES, the respective health disparities are usually greatly reduced but not eliminated.” (William H. Frist.)

With this knowledge, will the new law be able to prevent riskier behavior and lower the mortality rate of the people who have a lower SES?  The ACA proposes that there will be more facilities available to families who are now struggling to see a doctor because there is not a clinic nearby.

“Among the social structures investigated within sociology, social class, usually operationalized as socioeconomic status (SES), has proven particularly relevant for understanding racial disparities in health.” (Williams and Sternthal)  So maybe with the addition of equal health care for most all American’s we can fill in some of the gap that we have today. 

I found a quote that was interesting.  Brings up the question, do we allow certain races, or low SES people to live in poverty because we need to have this inequality in people?

“The most difficult social problem in the matter of Negro health is the peculiar attitude of the nation toward the well-being of the race. There have . . . been few other cases in the history of civilized peoples where human suffering has been viewed with such peculiar indifference.”

      —W. E. B. Du Bois (1899 [1967]:163)

References:

 William H. Frist.Overcoming Disparities In U.S. Health Care http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/24/2/445.full. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.24.2.445  Health Aff March 2005 vol. 24 no. 2 445-451

David R. Williams and Michelle Sternthal. Understanding Racial-ethnic Disparities in Health : Sociological Contributions. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 2010 51: S15.  DOI: 10.1177/0022146510383838