African Americans have had few options in determining where to practice
medicine due to the segregation in medical schools. Until the creation of
Howard University College of Medicine in 1868, most African American
physicians received medical training from white schools or study abroad
(Jones and Rice 11). Due to the lack of educational facilities that
accepted minority applicants, the percent of African Americans in health
care has been extremely low. "By 1982, there were about 10,212 (2.3%) black
physicians out of approximately 444,000 physicians" (Jones and Rice 13).
This present situation is very ironic considering the health problems
that plague African Americans today. Blacks are more likely than any other
ethnic group to die of heart disease or cancer. The questions remain as to
why African Americans do not receive equal treatment in terms of health care?
The cost of health care can be considered the primary factor preventing African
Americans from receiving health care.
Larry Churchill's book, Rationing Health Care in America, states that, "In the
United States, the cost of health care has been rising at twice the rate of
inflation over the past decade" (Churchill 6). Churchill further states that
Americans approximately spent $450 billion in health care helping to make it
the nation's second largest industry (Churchill 6).
African Americans also occupy areas where environmental pollution is
rampant. Eric Bailey's book, Urban African American Health Care, states that
approximately eighty-two percent of the African American population resides in
urban areas. This increases their chances of contact with harmful pollutants
(Bailey 1). African Americans' inability to receive ample health care even
though their ancestors played an important part in the history of medicine can
also be seen as an overt tactic to further ensure the subordinate role which
has been placed upon them in society. By denying health care to persons in need
though they can't afford it allows the dominant group to regulate over its
subordinates with institutional racism. These preventive measures have kept
African Americans from fully receiving the benefits their ancestors provided
for all of America.
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