Several populations in the United States face challenges accessing healthcare, including the homeless, those living in rural areas, racial/ethnic minorities, and refugees. The homeless population lacks stable housing and contact information, causing fragmented care. They also feel stigmatized in healthcare settings. Rural communities have few local doctors, requiring long travel for routine care. Minorities experience higher rates of health issues and poverty. Refugees are unfamiliar with the healthcare system and often do not speak English. To improve access, barriers faced by these vulnerable groups must be addressed.

1. Discussion board Health insurance in the United States
Discussion board Health insurance in the United StatesDiscussion board Health insurance in
the United StatesReply prompt: Respond to the two discussion questions who reached a
different conclusion than you did. Identify the points of difference in your analyses and
explain how your sources and analysis led you to your conclusion. Replies must be at least
450 words each discussion reply. Each reply must reference at least 3 scholarly sources and
follow current APA format (including both in-text citations and a reference list). You must
also support each reply with thoughtful analysis (considering assumptions, analyzing
implications, and comparing/contrasting concepts and include thorough biblical worldview
integration. (900 words total, 2 replies)Discussion Question #1Top of FormHealth
insurance in the United States has changed greatly over the past decade. The Affordable
Care Act allowed thousands of previously uninsured people to have access to health
insurance. Unfortunately, having health insurance does not always equate to having access
to health care. There are many populations that have difficulty receiving care.One
population that is vulnerable to a lack of health care are homeless people. “Across the
United States, approximately 578,424 people are homeless each night” and include families,
veterans, and children without parents (Shi & Singh, 2017). Providing care to the homeless
population is very challenging as the population has a broad range of needs. There are
children who need vaccines, single men and women who need care after leaving an abusive
relationship, and those who have mental illnesses that either need to be institutionalized or
simply need appropriate medication and/or therapy. A major obstacle for providers in the
delivery of health care to persons who are homeless, is the lack of a permanent address or
traditional way of contacting the patients (McInnes, Li, & Hogan, 2013). This lack of ability
to communicate easily causes care to be fragmented as providers are forced to rely on the
patient contacting them instead of being able to contact the patient if further treatment is
necessary.Discussion board Health insurance in the United StatesORDER NOW FOR
CUSTOMIZED, PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPERSAnother challenge homeless individuals face
when seeking care is the feeling of be ostracized by the health care community or other
people in general (McInnes, Li, & Hogan, 2013). This feeling causes most homeless people to
avoid getting routine care and instead rely on more emergency room or urgent care settings
to deal with major health issues (Lebrun-Harris, et al., 2013). Unfortunately, urgent or
emergency room care is not what most homeless people need. A large percentage of
homeless people suffer from some type of chronic illness that needs routine care, such as
diabetes, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, or mental illnesses (Lebrun-Harris, et al., 2013).Another

2. population that has challenges accessing health care are those who live in rural areas. Rural
communities, like the homeless community, have a broad range of health care needs. People
in these communities also, “face a higher burden of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, mental
health disorders, tobacco usage and substance abuse” (Shi & Singh, 2017). One major
barrier rural communities have to overcome in accessing care is the lack of medical
providers. Most doctors and physicians choose to live in larger cities where the population
is greater and the income potential higher. For example, “About 20% of the US population-
more than 50 million people-live in rural areas, but only 9% of the nation’s physicians
practice in rural communities” (Rosenblatt & Hart, 2000). The lack of local doctors results in
people not seeking routine care as it would mean traveling, taking time off of work, or
possibly loosing income if they are farmers. So much like the homeless population, those in
rural communities depend on hospitals for their care (Greenwood-Ericksen, Tipirneni, &
Abir, 2017).A final population vulnerable to healthcare access are those who are of racial or
ethnic minority categories. These groups include “black or African American (12.3%),
Hispanics or Latinos (16.3%), Asians (4.4%), Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders
(0.1%), American Indian and Alaska Natives (0.9%) or some other race (5.5%)” (Shi &
Singh, 2017). Minorities face a number of health challenges compared to Caucasian
Americas. For example, American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Hispanic Americans have a
higher rate of alcohol abuse, higher homicide rates, and a higher population living below the
national poverty line (Shi & Singh, 2017). Black Americans are more likely to die from a
stroke or heart disease than white Americans and “Korean Americans have a fivefold
incidence of stomach cancer and eightfold incidence of liver cancer compared with whites”
(Shi & Singh, 2017).Another minority group that faces challenges in health care are
displaced refugees from war torn areas. Many of these people are new to the United States
and do not speak English or even have someone that can take them to their health care
appointments. Furthermore, many of them have not had access to any routine care before
coming to America. For example, at the community dental clinic I work in we treat a large
Arabic population and most of the patients I see have never had any form of dental
treatment. As a result, most are scared and unsure of what is going on and compounding
this with a language barrier makes treatment very difficult. Discussion board Health
insurance in the United StatesMany different populations within the United States struggle
with receiving health care. As a country we need to work together to overcome some of
these barriers to care. As Jeremiah 22:3 states, “This is what the Lord says: Be fair-minded
and just. Do what is right! Help those who have been robbed; rescue them from their
oppressors…Do not mistreat foreigners, orphans, and widows…”.ReferencesGreenwood-
Ericksen, M., Tipirneni, R., & Abir, M. (2017). An Emergency Medicine-Primary Care
Partnership to Improve Rural Population Health: Expanding the Role of Emergency
Medicine. Annals of Emergency Medicine. doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.annemergmed.2017.06.025Lebrun-Harris, L., Baggett, T.,
Jenkins, D., Sripipatana, A., Sharma, R., & Hayashi, A. (2013). Health status and health care
experiences among homeless patients in federally supported health centers: findings from
the 2009 patient survey. Health Services Research, 48(3), 992. Retrieved from
http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=vic_liberty&id=GALE|A3

3. 32789620&v=2.1&it=r&sid=summon&authCount=1McInnes, K., Li, A., & Hogan, T. (2013).
Opportunities for Engaging Low-Income, Vulnerable Populations in Health Care: A
Systematic REview of HOmeless Person’ Access to and Use of Information
Technologies. American Journal of Public Health, 11-24. Retrieved from https://search-
proquest-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/docview/1468675781?pq-
origsite=summon&accountid=12085Rosenblatt, R., & Hart, L. (2000). Physicians and rural
America. Wetern Journal of Medicine, 173(5), 348-351. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071163/?tool=pmcentrezShi, L., &
Singh, D. (2017). Essentials of the U.S. Health Care System (Fourth ed.). Burlington, MA:
Jones & Bartlett Learning.Bottom of Form