CDC Report: Disparities in Health Care for the Poor Costs Taxpayers More Than $7 Billion Per Year

Barnes Hospital Dialysis Center is one of the largest kidney dialysis centers in the St. Louis area. There are actually two different locations, both of them located close to the hospital. I know people who work there and have had occasion to visit both locations in the past.

On any of the three days that I have been there, there were about 50 "pods" being used. Pods are the chairs and machines where the dialysis patients sit and receive their three and a half to four hour treatments.

This is by no means a scientific survey, but on each occasion I visited, there were exactly two out of the fifty patients who weren't minorities. Most all of the patients were poor and were on Medicaid, or Missouri Healthnet, as it is now called. And almost all of them had lost the function of their kidneys from diabetes and/or high blood pressure.

There was also something else these folks had suffered from earlier on in their lives: lack of health insurance and lack of health care. Most of them used the emergency room as their primary source of health care since they lacked insurance. Many had been unemployed or under-employed for most of their lives.

Minorities and the poor in this country suffer higher rates of most all of the chronic diseases like heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and most forms of cancer. A lot of them also have problems with drugs and alcohol. They get these diseases at an earlier age and since they don't take care of them, they end up end stage earlier than most of the rest of the population with higher incomes.

According to Medical News Today in a report from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control):

"Estimates indicate that low income residents report five to 11 fewer healthy days per month compared to Americans with higher income levels."

The poor also suffer from mental health issues because of the lack of available care, have higher suicide rates, and have a higher birth rate. Higher income people are more likely to engage in binge drinking, the report shows.

This is likely to become a huge drain on our already burdened health care system as some 42% of the workforce will be minorities by the end of the decade. And as you can imagine, the health of the workers can affect absenteeism and productivity in the businesses where they are employed.

Everyone seems to want to save money by eliminating even more health care services for the poor, but eliminating these disparities would save taxpayers about $7 billion a year in hospitalizations alone, let alone the cost to business.

Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/213804.php