Breast cancer has been a serious illness that has impacted all types of women worldwide. While white women are still more likely to be diagnosed with this illness, black women are the most likely to die from breast cancer. As recently as 2019, breast cancer is still the highest cause of death amongst African-American women. Because of various barriers, black women are the most likely to be diagnosed with advanced-stage cancer and the most likely to experience delays in treatment.
One of the biggest reasons for this problem has always been a huge disparity in health insurance between the racial groups. As we acknowledge Breast Cancer Awareness during October, let’s examine why there’s such a huge disparity, how racism and social factors continue to play strong roles, and how you can continue to lower your risk if you’re middle-aged.
Higher Rates in Unemployment amongst African-Americans
To figure out why black women are the most likely to be diagnosed with advanced-stage cancer, we need to get to the bottom of the lack of access to health insurance within this group. There are various factors influencing this situation. According to a 2000 review published in the Health Care Finance Review, Blacks have lower access to quality medical care than their white counterparts due to higher rates of unemployment and under-representation in good-paying jobs including health insurance as one of the benefits. More African-Americans are working at jobs with limited or no benefits than whites. Because of this, they are the most likely to receive inadequate care such as limited access to mammography screenings and other breast cancer prevention care.
Despite the ushering in of the Affordable Care Act law, enabling all Americans to have access to health care insurance, there still seems to be a gap in adequate care between African-Americans and whites. The uninsured rate of blacks continues to be higher than whites, with 9.7% without insurance compared to only 5.4% of whites. While the ACA has made access to health care a little easier, the cost of many options has continued to be too expensive for low-income minorities to afford them. Racism and other social factors do continue to play a role in all of this. Here’s why this is the case.
The Impact of Racism and other Social Factors
Whether we want to admit it or not, racism is still alive and well. It has made an impact on adequate health care coverage. Racism has impacted African-Americans, especially women, for so many years and it has impacted who gets health care in America. Not only has it been a stressful experience for many blacks, but it has also impacted our health. One study shows that various chronic illnesses such as degenerative diseases and metastatic cancer are linked to experiences with racism.
Besides impacting their health, racism has also led to uneven access to health care amongst blacks. Many blacks have developed distrust in the healthcare industry due to their bias toward them. A 2019 research article published in Science shows that the bias continues to arise because the health algorithm predicts healthcare costs rather than illness. This unequal access to care has caused doctors to spend less money caring for Black patients than white patients. Many doctors have also performed different pain management and treatments on Blacks compared to whites experiencing the same conditions.
Other social factors such as poverty, income inequality, food insecurity, wealth inequality, and the lack of safe, affordable housing affect African-Americans’ ability to obtain health insurance. These factors continue to plague low-income African-American communities. There are also still a significant amount of American states, particularly in the south, still not implementing the Medicaid expansion. 37 states have adopted this expansion, but 14 states haven’t adopted it. Medicaid has been a vital source for low-income African-Americans gaining insurance coverage.
Ways to Lower your Risk of Breast Cancer
While the actions of the health care reform could help improve the access to health insurance for all people, the fact remains that our government could only do so much. We can’t be so overly dependent on the system to improve breast cancer care for all women. Ultimately, we must take the initiative to make lifestyle changes to lower our risk.
This involves engaging in a form of physical activity like exercising, maintaining a balanced healthy diet, and limiting your alcohol intake. Implementing these factors in your life is always helpful in lowering your risk. Be sure to get access to early detection tools. Local breast cancer groups have helped refer patients to doctors. Check with your local hospital about low-cost mammograms. Although it’s limited, there’s still help out there that black women coping with breast cancer could take advantage of. You can still take action to catch your illness early.
Are you a black woman coping with breast cancer? If not, you possibly may know someone coping with this illness. Has she been able to get access to medical care? Share your or your friend’s experiences with this condition in the comments below. As always, be sure to like or share this post with the next black woman dealing with breast cancer.
