History of Racial Inequity in Healthcare

This week, we will structure and root our understanding of what race is and how it interacts and affects all aspects of our society. To observe and understand inequities in the healthcare system, we must first have a basic understanding of concepts and definitions in the health equity literature, and the origins of race and how it came to be a ubiquitous part of modern society.

The purpose of this week’s lessons are to understand specific events that contributed to the disproportionate disease burden seen in certain communities, and illustrate why health disparities, and in turn, healthcare disparities, exist by race.

This week, we will learn about the history of health insurance in the United States. The US health insurance system is complex and can vary based on your location, age, ability status, and for some groups, your identity. Understanding these differences helps shed a light on how health insurance plays a role in health inequity and specifically, racial health inequity.

This week, we will explore how lack of access and representation in various sectors have had an impact on healthcare equity. By illustrating exclusion and discrimination in other sectors of society, we can better see the same parallels that are observed in healthcare, and how exclusionary practices outside of healthcare contribute to health disparities and causes of inequities that will be detailed in Course 2.