Reflection Post #2

I was intrigued by the lecture about the stereotypes and struggle for equality faced by Latinos in the United States health care system. I have been learning a lot about the health care systems of the United States and the world in another class and the topics in both classes are very much aligned. The root of the problem of the United States health care system boils down to its inability to provide adequate coverage to the entire population, and the impoverished population in particular. The lecture by Professor Stern mentioned that 22% of the Latino population lives below the poverty line and many of these people fall through the cracks of programs like Medicaid that are meant to provide health care for those who cannot afford to purchase private insurance or don’t receive employer based health coverage. This number was a 2003 estimate and is now much higher as nearly 40% of the Latino population in the United States is currently living below the nationally established poverty line. Many portions of this demographic are unable to receive health insurance of any kind and as a result are forced to perpetuate the cycle of a polarized health care system that provides grossly unequal access to care. I believe that the problem faced by Latinos in the health care system stems from the same stereotypes and discriminatory practices that hinder the Latino population in other fights for equality. A history of oppression continues to affect the way that Latinos are viewed in multiple facets of society including the available access to health care. Actions taken against Latinos in the past such as the typhus quarantines in El Paso, and the recurrent theme of ignoring health issues raised by workers affected by harmful toxic pesticides built a platform of discrimination that helped shape the structure of the current health care system. Those afflicted by poverty are constantly overlooked and forced to live the unjust stereotypes of the past. These stereotypes can be blindly applied to an entire group, in this case the majority of Latinos that are not living below the poverty line. This is evidenced by the 63% of working Latinos that are unable to receive any access to health care. I think that many Latinos and Latino immigrants in particular are faced with a double edged sword when it comes to the health care policies of the present. Choose to Americanize and face the drastic lowering of health statistics, or refuse to Americanize and face the same stereotypes popularized in the beginning of the century.