Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to provide a discussion that will be useful to clinical sociologists on the concept of equity as it pertains to health and healthcare in the United States. We begin by defining what we mean by healthcare equity. We then describe how the lack of equity has emerged out of the dominant political economy. The severity of inequities is described in terms of two broad types of indicators: health status, and access to and utilization of healthcare services. In understanding this issue, it is also important to look at both how the problem is currently viewed and what methods have been used to address the problem. We close with the dilemmas that face clinical sociologists and strategies for addressing the problem of healthcare inequities in the United States.
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Lewis, B.L., Parent, F.D. (2001). Healthcare Equity. In: Rebach, H.M., Bruhn, J.G. (eds) Handbook of Clinical Sociology. Clinical Sociology: Research and Practice. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1217-2_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1217-2_15
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