ABSTRACT
This chapter defines and describes disparities in health and health care and discusses solutions. The reader learns about differences in health at birth and later in life, and access to health care in the United States by race. The chapter then provides a conceptualization within the economic framework of supply and demand of disparities in delivery of health care, as well as within the context of the Grossman model of health capital. It also discusses the empirical evidence of health and health care disparities based on income, education, race and ethnicity, geographic location, and immigration status. The chapter describes the challenges in measuring disparities, including measuring bias, mistrust and John Henryism, and quantity and quality of health care, as well as disparities in health outcomes in the United States. The reader learns about disparities in health care access and delivery in other countries.
The chapter continues to discuss policies which would address disparities. In this context, it considers the difference between equality and equity in health care. The chapter concludes with alternative definitions of equity in health, and the resources necessary for achieving this goal.
