Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, healthcare–and the people, systems, and policies that make it up–has been front of mind. We're looking back at CHF programming on the racial and socioeconomic disparities in public health and healthcare.
CHF presenters David Ansell, Raynard Kington, and Ezekiel Emanuel believe that America’s healthcare system needs reform—they’re going to explain why and how.
“What equity really means is those who need more, get more. And yet, we’ve designed a world that those who have more, get more.” —David Ansell
For physician and health activist David Ansell, access to healthcare is inextricably linked to wealth inequality, racism, and segregation. Neighborhoods of “concentrated advantage” often have socioeconomic and racial privilege that comes at the expense of neighborhoods that have been actively disinfested, redlined, and disadvantaged. When thinking about healthcare reform, Ansell recommends we “change the way our institutions look” and “deeply reflect into who we are as a people and a nation,” in order to address “the structural violence that underpins us.”
“We need serious leadership focusing on the opportunity to change the status quo.” —Raynard Kington
Like Ansell, former Deputy Director of the National Institute of Health, Raynard Kington sees “huge differences” in who has access to quality healthcare in America. What does he think can be done about this discrepancy? Kington argues that “any expansion of health insurance coverage will help promote narrowing the access gap.” But in order to pass the required legislation and eliminate the biases “deeply embedded in social institutions,” America needs intellectual leadership from scientists and politicians willing to commit to long term and realistic healthcare strategies.
“The fact of the matter is, our healthcare system, when it comes to quality, is very inconsistent.” —Ezekiel Emanuel
Oncologist and bioethicist Ezekiel Emanuel explains that even if you can afford insurance, “you’re subject to many of the vagaries of the poor quality of the system.” As for those who are not insured as a “direct result of our high costs of care”: “people actually die because they don’t have health insurance...The system is not working for everyone.”
Watch our CHF archival playlist to learn more about America’s healthcare system, and join the conversation on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @chihumantities.
Header Image Credit | Unsplash
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