Research Paper on Socioeconomic Inequality: Impact on Health Care Costs

Introduction

Socioeconomic inequality takes place when the distribution of resources in a given community is uneven being defined by social categories of persons. There is much great relationship between the socioeconomic inequalities and the health care cost. Worsening of socioeconomic inequalities results in higher prices in the provision of health care. The body of literature has attempted to indicate the relationship that occurs between the social life and economic factors like costs in health care and wealth levels. Communities described to be having low financial status, and living a deprived life tends to experience increased poor health and also increase the high cost of accessing health care.

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Human capital is highly defined by the health status of an individual in society. There are well-known links that occur between wealth and health levels in the community. Health is always viewed as one of the crucial element of human capital (Ozdemir, 2019). There is an excellent connection between human productivity and health since for a higher income; there is need of healthy human capital. Worse health conditions are usually caused by poor economic status. Poor health in most of the countries is a result of a barrier to economic growth. Statistics show that socioeconomic disparities cause the highest levels of inequalities in health. This inequality in the socioeconomic lives of people is caused by different levels of income, education, and the occupations of each individual in a country.

Education causes the highest levels of increase in the costs of health services. Policymakers always debate the advantages of improving education access, but they rarely make considerations for improving population health. Improving education causes some people to be more educated than others, making them have more healthcare knowledge than the less educated ones (Ozdemir, 2019). This comes with its share of disadvantages as the costs of healthcare become more expensive to cater to the most educated people. High education levels cause an increase in human capital and boost productivity which improves the standards of health services offered. With increased health services comes more costs to attain these services causing higher prices for the people who are less educated to access health services.

The levels of income of different individuals create inequalities as some people earn more income than others. Higher incomes provide better life services, such as housing, nutrition, and schooling (Ozdemir, 2019). Inequality causes underinvestment in some areas such as public goods which are experienced in stratified societies making access to health expenditure. The association that exists between income and health is mostly on living conditions as well as access to health and medical care services. People that get higher incomes to afford to purchase several goods such as health insurances that improve their health. The people below the low-level line of poverty find it hard to provide these services; hence, the cost of affording health care services become expensive for them.

Economics of health has a link between the costs of health care and the wealth levels of an individual. Wealthier people who have high levels of education and high levels of occupational skills are more healthy than people who have lower advantages in those areas (Ozdemir, 2019). Cost of health care declines as the levels of income rises, meaning that those with low levels of income experience expensive costs to access health care. Higher-income leads to an increase in steady-state consumption which raises living utility to people at old ages. For those with low incomes, their living utility is more economical, which makes their old age stressful and lead to their deaths.

Neighborhoods with different social inequalities experience different costs in health care services due to the socioeconomic statuses of different people in the community. Low neighborhood socioeconomic statuses of the individuals come along with high costs of health care which makes potential savings easier (Adler & Newman, 2002). The economic burden experienced from socioeconomic inequalities poses a direct fourteen percent of the total expenditures of a country. Physician consultations, prescribing of medication and hospitalizations either inpatient or outpatient becomes expensive for the people who are less educated and those with low income because they lack the education or money to make payments for health insurance.

Socioeconomic inequalities lead to decreased life expectancy and an increase in morbidity among different people in different socioeconomic classes in the community. Various interventions have been started to ensure that inequality is reduced and health is improved in neighborhoods that are more deprived (Adler & Newman, 2002). This intervention move plays a significant role in saving money for systems of health despite there being increased costs from longer life expectancies.

Conclusion

Communities described to be having low economic status, and living a deprived life tends to experience increased poor health and also increase the high cost of accessing health care. Individuals with low incomes, fewer levels of education, and more moderate occupational skills are less healthy than the people who have high salaries. Evidence of the health costs that are experienced due to socioeconomic inequalities helps to create strategies that reduce such disparities. Improving the health of the lowest income earning groups has a significant impact on the costs of differences in socioeconomic health.

References

Adler, N. E., & Newman, K. (2002). Socioeconomic disparities in health: pathways and policies. Health Affairs, 21(2), 60-76.

Ozdemir, H. O. (2019). Health Care Cost of Socioeconomic Inequalities: A Pioneering Population-Wide Study. American journal of public health, 109(6), 835-836. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2019.305099