Racial health disparities in the United States
Marcella Alsan (),
Katherine Ianni and
Graeme Peterson
Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 2024, vol. 40, issue 3, 498-517
Abstract:
Disparities between Black and White Americans in health care coverage and health outcomes are pervasive in the United States. In this paper, we describe the evolution of the market-based approach to health insurance and health care delivery in the United States and its implications for racial disparities. First, we discuss the history of the United States’ predominantly private health insurance system. Second, we illustrate the persistence and pervasiveness of disparities through three present-day epidemics: maternal mortality, opioid use, and Covid-19. Through the epidemic case studies, we highlight the systemic roots of racial inequality in health care. Finally, we conclude with a brief discussion of potential policy approaches for reducing disparities in the health care system.
Keywords: health disparities; health insurance; maternal health; Covid-19; opioid epidemic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/oxrep/grae035 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:oxford:v:40:y:2024:i:3:p:498-517.
Access Statistics for this article
Oxford Review of Economic Policy is currently edited by Christopher Adam
More articles in Oxford Review of Economic Policy from Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().