Introduction: Segregation of Health Care

Misir, Prem

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-88766-7_1

Introduction: Segregation of Health Care

Prem Misir²

Chapter
First Online: 28 November 2021

466 Accesses

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Public Health ((BRIEFSPUBLIC))

Abstract

Racial health disparities and segregated health care are not new to America, as differential health outcomes between Blacks and Whites were birthed at the time of the settlement at Jamestown in 1619. Segregated health care has always been characteristically torn between the quality mainstream health system for Whites and an inferior de facto health system for Blacks and other historically disadvantaged populations. Even during this second decade of the twenty-first century, US health care still embraces a de facto doctrine of “separate but equal,” advantaging the dominant White group with quality health care, while Blacks and other racially disadvantaged people of color involuntarily remain wedded to a perpetual health crisis. Articulating the major poor health outcomes against the backdrop of huge health expenditures is a powerful illustration of the wide and deep penetration of race and class-based segregation on the health status of people of color.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter: USD 29.95; Price excludes VAT (USA)

eBook: USD 49.99; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Softcover Book: USD 64.99; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

Alexander, M. (2020). The new Jim crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. The New Press.
Google Scholar
Arnold, C. (2018). Pandemic 1918: Eyewitness accounts from the greatest medical holocaust in modern history. St. Martin's Press.
Google Scholar
Aziz, M., & Smith, K. Y. (2011). Challenges and successes in linking HIV-infected women to care in the United States. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 52, S231–S237.
PubMed Google Scholar
Beyer, D. (2020). The economic state of black America in 2020 [online]. Joint Economic Committee. U.S. Congress. Available: https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/ccf4dbe2-810a-44f8-b3e7-14f7e5143ba6/economic-state-of-black-america-2020.pdf. Accessed 2 Dec 2020.
BLS. (2020). Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey [Online]. Available: https://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cpsee_e16.htm. Accessed 2 Dec 2020.
Bond, J. (1997). Preface. In C., H. (Ed.), Double exposure: Poverty and race in America. M.E Sharp.
Google Scholar
Bowser, B. P. (2017). Racism: Origin and theory. Journal of Black Studies, 48, 572–590.
Google Scholar
Braveman, P. (2006). Health disparities and health equity: Concepts and measurement. Annual Review of Public Health, 27, 167–194.
PubMed Google Scholar
Byrd, W. M., & Clayton, L. A. (1992). An American health dilemma: A history of blacks in the health system. Journal of the National Medical Association, 84, 189.
CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Byrd, W. M., & Clayton, L. A. (2012). An American health dilemma: A medical history of African Americans and the problem of race: Beginnings to 1900. Routledge.
Google Scholar
CDC. (2018). Table 4. Life expectancy at birth, at age 65, and at age 75, by sex, race, and Hispanic origin: United States, selected years 1900–2017. NCHS.
Google Scholar
CDC. (2019a). 1918 Pandemic (H1N1 virus) [online]. CDC. Available: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-pandemic-h1n1.html. Accessed 31 July 2021.
CDC. (2019b). Racial and ethnic disparities in heart disease [online]. CDC. Available: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus/spotlight/2019-heart-disease-disparities.htm. Accessed 9 Aug 2021.
CDC. (2020). Reproductive health [Online]. CDC. Available: https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternalinfanthealth/infantmortality.htm. Accessed 4 Aug 2021.
CDC. (2021). HIV and African American people [online]. CDC. Available: https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/group/racialethnic/africanamericans/index.html. Accessed 27 June 2021.
Creamer, J. (2020). Inequalities persist despite decline in poverty for all major race and Hispanic origin groups [Online]. United states census bureau. Available: https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2020/09/poverty-rates-for-blacks-and-hispanics-reached-historic-lows-in-2019.html. Accessed 2 Dec 2020.
Cunningham, T. J., Croft, J. B., Liu, Y., Lu, H., Eke, P. I., & Giles, W. H. (2017). Vital signs: Racial disparities in age-specific mortality among blacks or African Americans—United States, 1999–2015. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 66, 444.
PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
De Beauvoir, S. (2010). The second sex. Knopf.
Google Scholar
Dominguez, T. P. (2011). Adverse birth outcomes in African American women: The social context of persistent reproductive disadvantage. Social Work in Public Health, 26, 3–16.
PubMed Google Scholar
Du Bois, W. B. (2003). The health and physique of the negro American. American Journal of Public Health, 93, 272–276.
Google Scholar
Engels, F. (2008). The condition of the working class in England in 1844. Cosimo.
Google Scholar
Feagin, J. R. (2020). The white racial frame: Centuries of racial framing and counter-framing. Routledge.
Google Scholar
Feagin, J., & Bennefield, Z. (2014). Systemic racism and US health care. Social Science & Medicine, 103, 7–14.
Google Scholar
Fields, E. L., Copeland, R., & Hopkins, E. (2021). Same script, different viruses: HIV and COVID-19 in US black communities. The Lancet, 397, 1040–1042.
CAS Google Scholar
Gaskin, D. J., Arbelaez, J. J., Brown, J. R., Petras, H., Wagner, F. A., & Cooper, L. A. (2007). Examining racial and ethnic disparities in site of usual source of care. Journal of the National Medical Association, 99, 22.
PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Gaskin, D. J., Dinwiddie, G. Y., Chan, K. S., & Mccleary, R. (2012a). Residential segregation and disparities in health care services utilization. Medical Care Research and Review, 69, 158–175.
PubMed Google Scholar
Gaskin, D. J., Dinwiddie, G. Y., Chan, K. S., & Mccleary, R. R. (2012b). Residential segregation and the availability of primary care physicians. Health Services Research, 47, 2353–2376.
PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Gaskin, D. J., Dinwiddie, G. Y., Chan, K. S., & Mccleary, R. R. (2012c). Residential segregation and the availability of primary care physicians. Health Services Research, 47, 2353–2376.
PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
GLL. (2020a). A Brief History of Civil Rights in the United States [Online]. Available: https://guides.ll.georgetown.edu/c.php?g=592919&p=4172697. Accessed 23 Jan 2021.
GLL. (2020b). A Brief History of Civil Rights in the United States [Online]. Available: https://guides.ll.georgetown.edu/c.php?g=592919&p=4172700. Accessed 22 Jan 2021.
Godlee, F., & Silberner, J. (2020). The BMJ interview: Anthony Fauci on covid-19. BMJ, 370, m3703.
PubMed Google Scholar
Greene, J., Blustein, J., & Weitzman, B. C. (2006). Race, segregation, and physicians' participation in Medicaid. The Milbank Quarterly, 84, 239–272.
PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Hammonds, E. M., & Reverby, S. M. (2019). Toward a historically informed analysis of racial health disparities since 1619. American Public Health Association.
Google Scholar
Hays, D. & Sullivan, B. (2020). 2017 Data Show Homeowners Nearly 89 Times Wealthier Than Renters [Online]. Available: https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2020/11/gaps-in-wealth-of-americans-by-household-type-in-2017.html. Accessed 2 Dec 2020.
Hoyert, D. L. (2020). Maternal mortality rates in the United States, 2019.
Google Scholar
JHU CSSE. (2021). COVID-19 dashboard [online]. Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center. Available: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html. Accessed 2 Aug 2021.
Jordan, W. D. (1962). Modern tensions and the origins of American slavery. The Journal of Southern History, 28, 18–30.
Google Scholar
Keehan, S. P., Cuckler, G. A., Poisal, J. A., Sisko, A. M., Smith, S. D., Madison, A. J., Rennie, K. E., Fiore, J. A., & Hardesty, J. C. (2020). National Health Expenditure Projections, 2019–28: Expected rebound in prices drives rising spending growth: National health expenditure projections for the period 2019–2028. Health Affairs, 39, 704–714.
PubMed Google Scholar
Kirby, J. B., & Kaneda, T. (2005). Neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and access to health care. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 46, 15–31.
PubMed Google Scholar
Krieger, N., Rehkopf, D. H., Chen, J. T., Waterman, P. D., Marcelli, E., & Kennedy, M. (2008). The fall and rise of US inequities in premature mortality: 1960–2002. PLoS Medicine, 5, e46.
PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Martin, J. A., Hamilton, B. E., Sutton, P. D., Ventura, S. J., Menacker, F., & Munson, M. L. (2003). Births: Final data for 2002. National Vital Statistics Reports, 52, 1–113.
PubMed Google Scholar
Martin, J. A., Hamilton, B. E., Ventura, S. J., Osterman, M. J., Kirmeyer, S., Mathews, T., & Wilson, E. C. (2011). Births: Final data for 2009 (Vol. 60, pp. 1–70). National vital statistics reports: from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System.
Google Scholar
Martin, J. A., Osterman, M., Control, C. F. D., & PREVENTION. (2013). Preterm births—United States, 2006 and 2010. MMWR Surveillance Summaries, 62, 136–138.
Google Scholar
Massey, D. S. (2007). Categorically unequal: The American stratification system. Russell Sage Foundation.
Google Scholar
Massey, D. S., & Fischer, M. J. (2000). How segregation concentrates poverty. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 23, 670–691.
Google Scholar
Massey, D. S., & Fong, E. (1990). Segregation and neighborhood quality: Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians in the San Francisco metropolitan area. Social Forces, 69, 15–32.
Google Scholar
Massey, D. S., Gross, A. B., & Eggers, M. L. (1991). Segregation, the concentration of poverty, and the life chances of individuals. Social Science Research, 20, 397–420.
Google Scholar
Matthew, D. B. (2018). Just medicine: A cure for racial inequality in American health care. NYU Press.
Google Scholar
National Academies of Sciences, E. & Medicine. (2017). Communities in action: Pathways to health equity.
Google Scholar
NCHS & CDC. (2017). Table 16. Age-adjusted death rates, by race, Hispanic origin, state, and territory: United States and U.S. dependent areas, average annual 1979–1981, 1989–1991, and 2014–2016 [Online]. Available: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/2017/016.pdf. Accessed 27 Nov 2020.
NCHS & CDC. (2020). United States Life Tables, 2018 [Online]. Available: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr69/nvsr69-12-508.pdf. Accessed 26 Nov 2020.
NCHS/CDC. (2021). Heart disease [online]. NCHS/CDC. Available: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/heart-disease.htm. Accessed 6 June 2021.
New Zealand Government. (2019). Infant mortality rate declines [online]. New Zealand Government. Available: https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/infant-mortality-rate-declines. Accessed 4 Aug 2021.
NYT. (2021). Biden’s speech to congress: Full transcript [online]. The New York Times. Available: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/29/us/politics/joe-biden-speech-transcript.html. Accessed 9 Aug 2021.
ODPHP. (2021). Disparities [Online]. ODPHP, DHHS. Available: https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/about/foundation-health-measures/Disparities. Accessed 23 May 2021.
OECD. (2021a). Health expenditure and financing [online]. OECD. Available: https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=SHA. Accessed 4 Aug 2021.
OECD. (2021b). Health status [online]. OECD. Available: https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=HEALTH_STAT. Accessed 4 Aug 2021.
Papanicolas, I., Woskie, L. R., & Jha, A. K. (2018). Health care spending in the United States and other high-income countries. JAMA, 319, 1024–1039.
PubMed Google Scholar
PLATO. (2010). The Laws: Books 1–6 [Online]. Available: http://www.greektexts.com/library/plato/laws_(books_1_-_6)/eng/317.html. Accessed 8 Dec 2020.
Prather, C., Fuller, T. R., Jeffries, W. L., IV, Marshall, K. J., Howell, A. V., Belyue-Umole, A., & King, W. (2018). Racism, African American women, and their sexual and reproductive health: A review of historical and contemporary evidence and implications for health equity. Health equity, 2, 249–259.
PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Renaud, M. (1994). The future: Hygeia versus Panakeia? In R. G. Evans, M. L. Barer, & T. R. Marmor (Eds.), Why are some people healthy and others not? The determinants of health of populations. Aldine De Gruyter.
Google Scholar
Roberts, D. (2011). Fatal invention: How science, politics, and big business re-create race in the twenty-first century. New Press/ORIM.
Google Scholar
Siegel, R. L., Miller, K. D., & Jemal, A. (2018). Cancer statistics, 2018. CA: a Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 68, 7–30.
Google Scholar
Siegel, R. L., Miller, K. D., & Jemal, A. (2020). Cancer statistics, 2020. CA: a Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 70, 7–30.
Google Scholar
Smith, D. B. (2020). The pandemic challenge: End separate and unequal healthcare. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, 360, 109–111.
PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Tabb, L. P., Ortiz, A., Judd, S., Cushman, M., & Mcclure, L. A. (2020). Exploring the spatial patterning in racial differences in cardiovascular health between blacks and whites across the United States: The REGARDS study. Journal of the American Heart Association, 9, e016556.
PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Tolbert, J., Orgera, K., Singer, N. & Damico, A. (2019). Key Facts about the Uninsured Population [Online]. Available: http://files.kff.org/attachment//fact-sheet-key-facts-about-the-uninsured-population. Accessed 24 Jan 2021.
Tucker, M. J., Berg, C. J., Callaghan, W. M., & Hsia, J. (2007). The black–white disparity in pregnancy-related mortality from 5 conditions: Differences in prevalence and case-fatality rates. American Journal of Public Health, 97, 247–251.
PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
U.S.C. (1964). Title VI of the civil rights act of 1964 [online]. U.S. Department of Justice. Available: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2010-title42/pdf/USCODE-2010-title42-chap21-subchapV.pdf. Accessed 30 Mar 2021.
USCB. (2012). Statistical abstract of the United States: 2012. Table 168. Ambulatory care visits to physicians’ offices and hospital outpatient and emergency departments: 2008. [online]. U.S. Department of Commerce: USCB. Available: http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0168.pdf. Accessed 6 Mar 2021.
USDHHS. (1985–1986). Report of the Secretary's Task Force on Black & Minority Health [Online]. Available: https://www.minorityhealth.hhs.gov/assets/pdf/checked/1/ANDERSON.pdf. Accessed 29 Jan 2021.
USNCHS. (2012). National health statistics reports; ambulatory care visits to physicians’ offices. 2003. [online]. CDC. Available: www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0168.xls. Accessed 6 Mar 2021.
Virani, S. S., Alonso, A., Benjamin, E. J., Bittencourt, M. S., Callaway, C. W., Carson, A. P., Chamberlain, A. M., Chang, A. R., Cheng, S., Delling, F. N., Djousse, L., Elkind, M. S. V., Ferguson, J. F., Fornage, M., Khan, S. S., Kissela, B. M., Knutson, K. L., Kwan, T. W., Lackland, D. T., … Tsao, C. W. (2020). Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics—2020 Update: A report From the American Heart Association. Circulation, 141, e139–e596.
PubMed Google Scholar
Virchow, R. (1848). Report on the Typhus Epidemic in Upper Silesia.
Google Scholar
World Bank. (2019a). Death rate, crude (per 1,000 people) [online]. World Bank. Available: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.CDRT.IN?locations=BE. Accessed 4 Aug 2021.
World Bank. (2019b). Maternal mortality ratio (modeled estimate, per 100,000 live births) [online]. World Bank. Available: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.STA.MMRT. Accessed 5 Aug 2021.
Yancy, C. W. (2020). COVID-19 and African Americans. JAMA, 323(19), 1891–1892. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.6548
Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

School of Public Health, The University of the South Pacific, Solomon Islands (Immediate Past), Honiara, Solomon Islands
Prem Misir

Authors

Prem Misir
View author publications
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Misir, P. (2022). Introduction: Segregation of Health Care. In: COVID-19 and Health System Segregation in the US. SpringerBriefs in Public Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88766-7_1

Download citation

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88766-7_1
Published: 28 November 2021
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-88765-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-88766-7
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics