Freelance Contribution by Sally Writes

A recent study of car insurance providers in America showed that people living in zip codes that are predominately African American pay almost 70% more for their car insurance. While racial discrimination is nothing new in American institutions, this study has put a spotlight on the entire insurance industry. These astounding results have led many people to wonder if there are racial disparities affecting the black community within the healthcare insurance complex as well. There has not been an official study completed, however, there are many ancillary factors that may contribute to discrimination within healthcare insurance providers.

The Power Of Implicit Bias

While there are some people that are overtly biased, many more are implicitly biased within the healthcare community. An implicit bias, is the act of being unconsciously biased based upon personal experiences as well as social factors. This type of bias within healthcare can be the difference between a long a healthy life or a shortened lifespan. It has been proven that many doctors prescribe different medications and procedures to those of African American descent in comparison to their Anglo Saxon counterparts.  

How Is This Affecting Black Men?

Thhat affect the shortened lifespan of African American Men. Unfortunately, the lack of excellent ere are many outside factors tand affordable healthcare is one of those factors. The average lifespan of a black man is approximately six years less than that of a white man. While health insurance itself is not the root cause, the lack of affordably priced health cover coupled with the implicit biases of healthcare providers certainly plays a role in this. In addition, there are countless potentially lifesaving treatments that are not offered to African Americans due to implicit biases within the healthcare industry.

Potential Solutions 

There are no clear solutions to this issue. It will take a multi-pronged approach across a multitude of cohorts. However, health insurance providers can help to curb implicit biases by offering more affordable and comprehensive packages that all people can afford. In addition, it is important for health insurance providers to work with healthcare professionals to only offer the best care to every patient. It is important to have discussions with those that are not African Americans about the rampant discrimination throughout many institutions. Most people do not seek to inherently harm others, however, if they are unaware of current policies and statistics they may not feel moved to act against them.