Racial Health Inequity: Racialization of Marginalized Immigrant Groups as a Barrier to Healthcare Access and Utilization

Keywords: Health Inequity, Race, Immigrant Minorities, Healthcare Access, Social Justice
Abstract Type: Virtual Paper Abstract

Abstract

A wide range of literature –both in the social and health sciences--acknowledges with a consensus that ‘race matters’ where health equity is concerned. Racially marginalized population groups often face differential experiences with the healthcare system which is evident in ways their access to care is determined and how they are treated by healthcare professionals, resulting in disparities in health outcomes. Race background of patients, after considering differences in socio-economic gaps and genetically determined health risks, stand out in analyses and discussions of health outcomes and health seeking behavior. Research exploring the relationship between race and health emphasize however, that racial background cannot be a mere ‘explanatory demographic variable’ for measuring health disparity. Rather, racial inequities in healthcare in the US and its implication for health outcomes should be examined as a consequence of the social construction of race and long-drawn-out systemic and structural aspects of racism that have plagued our societies, leading to systemic bias or discrimination of racial minorities that in turn have shaped uneven institutional policies and practices, historically. Along with historically marginalized racial groups in the US, nonwhite immigrant and ethnic minorities are constantly subjected to various processes of racialization and race-based discrimination and stereotyping in all aspects of institutional processes, with healthcare as no exception. Drawing from field research with immigrant communities in Minnesota, this paper critically examines racial health inequities in the geography of health and medical geography literature in an attempt to conceptualize racial health inequities for immigrants and ethnic minorities.