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news
No
health care due to poverty
By Dwight Flenniken III
On-line Forty-Niner
The widening socioeconomic
gap in Long Beach, and throughout the world, has led to substandard
health care services for those who live near or below poverty
levels.
The 1997 World Health Report said many countries in the world
are now experiencing a widening gap in health terms between
the wealthy and those in poverty. That same report stated
poor people die at a younger age, while rich die much later
in their lives. These statistics correlate with the quality
of health care given to each group as a whole in all areas
of the world, including the world's wealthiest nation -- the
United States.
The Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services 2000
report said 16.8 percent of Long Beach residents live in poverty.
The rate of poor children in the city is 26.9 percent, a significant
increase compared to the entire Long Beach population.
The Los Angeles County Urban Research report estimated 80
percent of the nearly 93,000 children in Long Beach, under
the age of 12, are non-white minorities.
Population studies done by the U.S. Center for Disease Control
found that more than one-third of the U.S population lived
in or near poverty as of 1996, the most recent statistics.
Nearly 55 percent of blacks and 60 percent of Hispanics were
classified as poor or near poverty. The study also stated
that children living in female-headed households have the
highest rate of poverty in America.
"The importance of public health is that we provide preventative
care for pennies on the dollar," said Michael Johnson,
manager of support services for the Long Beach Department
of Health.
California Kids, Help Families and Medical are examples of
the programs California has in place to provide health care
to underprivileged children. However, the increase of minority
children and the lack of adult care is prevalent in the city
of Long Beach.
Children below the age of 12 make up more than 21 percent
of Long Beach's entire population, with 25 percent of Long
Beach currently under 18 years old.
Many of the current problems infants and children suffer are
in conjunction with their parents lack of health coverage.
"Health care cost have gone up significantly," Johnson
said. "Expanding the eligibility of [government] programs
would get more people health care."
Long Beach, with approximately 430,000 inhabitants, is the
fifth largest city in California and the 32nd largest in the
United States.
The problems in Long Beach mirror the same dilemmas the nation
now deals with.
In 1997, the U.S. government spent $1.1 trillion on health
care services. This was by far the most spent by any nation
throughout the world. However, in that same year, more than
16 percent of the nation's population lacked necessary health
care coverage.
Reports by the National Institute of Medicine and the Urban
Institute show minorities make up a disproportionate number
of those who have no form of health care in the United States.
Further studies done by the UCLA Center for Health Policy
Research said that large racial and ethnic deficiencies in
health services remain among minorities compared to whites.
The Long Beach Department of Health study showed 11 out of
every 1,000 black babies are born dead. Hispanic and Asians
had a fetal death rate of seven and eight respectively. In
the same study, only four of every 1,000 white babies die
at birth.
This problem is directly linked to the percentage of live
births that had late prenatal care. In Hispanic, black and
Asian communities, more than 20 percent of women receive late
prenatal care. This is compared to 13 percent of all whites
that get late care.
With a growing minority population, Long Beach now sees a
magnification of this increasingly troublesome issue.
The National Academy of Science report on "Unequal Treatment"
said the difference in treatment for minorities is extraordinarily
consistent throughout the health care industry.
It also stated minorities receive deficient care, compared
to whites, in cardiovascular disease, cancers, strokes, maternity,
child health, transplants and mental health among others.
Many of these diseases top the list for cause of death in
the United States and in Long Beach. These top five killers
are the same in both areas and, in order, are: cardiovascular
disease, cancer, stroke, pulmonary disease (not including
pneumonia) and pneumonia.
Although the significance is evident, the Academy of Science
report said that most Americans believed minorities received
the same quality of health service as whites.
In California there are currently 685,000 adults under 65-years-old
who are eligible for medical coverage through Medi-Cal due
to poverty, according to the UCLA Health Policy report. However,
there are 3.1 million adults, citizens and legal immigrants,
who are uninsured and do not qualify for Medi-Cal coverage.
In 2000 the California State Legislature and Governor Gray
Davis sought a federal waiver which would allow families at
200 percent of the poverty level to become a part of the Healthy
Families Program. Those same families are currently not eligible
for Medi-Cal insurance.
If this change were to take place, it would increase health
care benefits to more than 400,000 of California's uninsured
parents.
"The problem with the state of California program is
that it is called Healthy Families, and it is only for children,"
Johnson said.
Mimi Lasam, an emergency room nurse at a local hospital said,
the two main problems facing hospitals and emergency rooms
today are the closure of clinics and a lack of patient education
regarding health care.
Medical clinics, which provide services to the poor and near
poor, hold regular office hours. This leaves much of the burden
for preventative care in the hands of hospital emergency rooms.
"We definitely get inundated by patients on the weekends
due to urgent care centers and clinics closing between the
hours of 5 p.m. and 8 a.m.," Hoag Hospital Emergency
Charge Nurse Jonathan Devera said.
When waiting until sickness occurs, and in many cases minor
sickness, patients are visiting emergency rooms at an alarming
rate. The same problems, according to many emergency room
personnel, could be taken care of at a clinic for a fraction
of the cost.
In the end, both the taxpayer and the recipient of services
from the hospital feel these costs.
Devera also said that many of the patients seeking treatment
are not sick enough to be admitted to a hospital, and it increases
the wait-time for those with true emergencies.
The problem of disparity between the rich and poor in terms
of health care is a major hurdle facing urban areas such as
Long Beach. This same problem affects the entire world as
a whole.
"Health care
cost have gone up significantly. Expanding the eligibility
of [government] programs would get more people health care."
-- Michael Johnson,
manager of support services for the Long Beach Department
of Health
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