Originally published September 8 2005
Although healthcare for blacks is catching up, they're still less likely to undergo common procedures
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
According to The Washington Post, a study by University of Michigan scientists found that, although healthcare for blacks and whites has gotten closer to equalizing over the last 20 years, black Americans are still less likely to receive operations, tests, medicines and other lifesaving treatments.
Black Americans get far fewer operations, tests, medicines and other lifesaving treatments than whites despite years of efforts to erase racial disparities in health care and help African-Americans live equally long and healthy lives, according to three major studies published today.
Blacks' health care has started to catch up to whites' in some ways, but blacks remain much less likely to undergo heart bypasses, appendectomies and other common procedures.
They receive fewer mammograms and basic tests and drugs for heart disease and diabetes, and they have fallen even further behind whites in controlling those two major killers, according to the first attempts to measure the last decade's efforts to improve equality of care.
Experts said they were encouraged that some care did improve for blacks when the government put pressure on health plans and doctors by requiring them to report whether they were meeting minimum standards.
Past studies have found that blacks and other racial minorities are much less likely than whites to receive many types of medical care.
They are significantly more prone to illness, tend to experience more complications and take longer to recover when they get sick.
They are more likely to succumb to their illnesses and generally die younger.
"These persistent disparities are saying that systematically, based on an individual's skin color, Americans are still treated very differently by our health care system," said David Williams of the University of Michigan.
The cause of the persistent disparities has been the focus of intense research and debate.
Blacks and other minorities tend to be poorer and less educated, which accounts for some of the differences.
Some experts argue that blacks also tend to live in places where doctors and hospitals provide inferior care.
Others suspect that cultural, or even biological, differences may play a role.
The most intense debate has centered on whether a subtle racism pervades the health care system.
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