Socioeconomic factors are one of the influential determinants of healthcare accessibility and effectiveness. A person living in low income earner is socially unequipped to access necessary medical care than his or her counterpart from the high income earner. Some of the factors that have been found to result in this include inadequate insurance, transport barriers and poor health literacy that is all known to result in widened health disparities. This inadequate funding results in delayed treatment, poor health among clients, increased mortality rates and poor service delivery.
Health awareness and decision making is a direct function of education level. Lack of knowledge and low levels of literacy may bring about lack of awareness of disease signs and signs of diseases that may require change in behavior and lifestyle. This therefore makes them not seek early treatment when they are ill, because they lack the necessary information and health care options that would have made it easier for them to do so. Health promotion and education are intertwined; it could be stated that they revolve around each other in the education of people on how to preserve their health.
Employment status also plays a central role in healthcare accessibility. Due to their nature of having low and or irregular wages, their employers are likely to offer them health insurance and paid medical leave when sick. Otherwise, maybe they will not get a physical checkup, reducing checking symptoms until they worsen which is not advisable at all. Stability in employment is important in maintaining the continuity of accessibility and quality of the health care services.
Geographic location further widens disparities. The residents of rural areas or regions with a low population density can face the problem of the scarcity of medical professionals and hospitals. Lack of access to travel, separation of healthcare providers due to physical distance, and fewer facilities to seek medical attention can be major challenges. Therefore, the inhabitants in the rural area are likely to develop chronic diseases and have a shorter life expectancy than those living in the urban area.
Finally, stereotypes bring with it a notion of systemic discrimination that compounds the disparity in healthcare provision. This is observed for any minority ethnic groups that struggle with prejudices within healthcare, even if their socioeconomic situation is the same as those who are not minority ethnic groups. Discrimination is underrated owing to a number of factors such as culture difference, language difficulties, and stereotype thinking. All these issues call for reforms aimed at providing Avenues that will improve health care access for all groups of people.
Conclusion
Socioeconomic factors without a doubt determine variability of access to healthcare and the outcome of clinical care. Income, education and employment pretend to be in correlation with residence location and, at the same time, with racism and sexism. All these issues require immediate and specialized intervention in terms of policies, community, and the healthcare delivery system. It must be noted that the attainment of real healthcare equity is now, more than ever, a necessity to foster a healthy society that has been fought for.
