Disparity of Healthcare:
The Effect of Race and
Socioeconomic Status
By: Monserrat Beita
Stevens Institute of Technology
HSS 441
Professor Tao
December 6, 2018
I pledge my honor that I have abided by the Stevens
Honor System.
Abstract:
While in class we have covered the difficulties of minorities achieving prominent roles in the
science I want to discuss the other side of the problem. This paper seeks to show that there is
a great disparity in the quality of healthcare that minorities receive as compared to the quality
that white (non-Hispanics) are given access to. Quality of care of hospitals where the majority
of patients are minorities is much lower than the care at hospitals where patients tend to be
Caucasian. Hospitals are not the only place where the healthcare disparity can be seen, research
studies and access to health care is not equally divided between races. Lastly I will go into
detail about how big pharmaceuticals are targeting low income minorities and using them as
guinea pigs while minorities do not receive any benefits of the finished drugs. By doing a
critical literature review I will analyze multiple sources that show the gap between white and
minority healthcare.
While the United States might be a first world country with prominent medicine it does
not equally distribute its healthcare and technology evenly throughout the country’s countless
hospitals. The 2009 National Women Health Report written by Debra Gordon states that after
getting information from thousands of people and hospitals the life expectancy rates of certain
minority groups are much lower than those of white non-Hispanics. Further analysis of
Gordon’s article showed support for the fact that minority hospitals are not as successful in
survival rates as hospitals where patients are most likely white. Hospitals in low
socioeconomic area rarely get the same amount of funding as those hospitals in wealthier areas.
This causes the hospitals to be understaffed and outdated . While a wealthier hospital could
afford a new MRI machine a hospital near the “ghetto” might have a machine that’s ten years
old. Differences such as those are the differences that save lives which is why mortality rates
