Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Monthly Series Examines Low-Income Individuals’ Access to Care

Ending racial health disparities and improving access to care "is far more complicated than simply placing affordable care where it's needed," the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports as part of its monthly racial health disparities series, called "The Colors of Care." Cultural attitudes and perceptions also affect health care access, the Post-Gazette reports. Further, if people believe they will be unable to afford care or think of the health care system as "uncaring and racially and culturally insensitive, they will stay away." Wilford Payne, director of the Homewood, Pa.-based Alma Illery Medical Center -- which provides medical care to low-income residents for free or on a sliding-fee scale -- said, "Black people don't go to the doctor until it hurts. When you grow up poor, you go to the doctor because of a sickness your mom can't cure," adding that only seeing a doctor in cases of an emergency "get[s] rooted in the culture." As a result, many minorities fail to get preventive care or regular checkups, the Post-Gazette reports. In addition, a lack of health insurance "really drives" racial and ethnic disparities; 20% of blacks lack health insurance, compared with 10% of whites. According to the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Studying Health System Change, the uninsured are three times more likely to report not getting necessary care, compared with insured individuals. "It becomes a real issue because people who have to choose to buy medicine or buy food can't always choose medicine," Payne said (Dyer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 6/25).

Other Series Features
The Post-Gazette today also published the following articles as part of the series:

• "The Last Pediatrician Treating Children in the Low-Income Community of Clairton Has Left": Profiles the town of Clairton, Pa., where nearly one-quarter of the households do not have a car and where the town's only pediatrician's office closed in May because of reports that the office did not attract enough patients (Snowbeck, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 6/25).
• "Dr. Simmon Wilcox Returns the Help He Received On His Way Up To His Patients In Aliquippa": Profiles Aliquippa, Pa., physician Dr. Simmon Wilcox, who grew up poor himself and now sees more than 5,000 patients each year, one-third of whom are uninsured (Dyer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 6/25).