Minority Group and HIPAA in the U.S.

Minority Group and HIPAA Name Institutional Affiliation Minority Group and HIPAA Hispanics belong to an ethnic minority group in the U.S. with 2014 statistics showing that it comprises of 17.4% of the American population (55.4 million) (Velasco-Mondragon et al. 2016). It is evident that most Hispanics are represented disproportionately in various sectors of society, including socioeconomic status, education, employment, cultural values, health care, and social support systems. According to Velasco-Mondragon et al. (2016), these aspects are referred to as social determinants of health (SDH). SDH contributes to negative health impacts on people via allostatic load, an incident that contributes to chronic stress, and leads to behaviors such as poor diet, substance use, and sedentary behaviors. Health inequalities that face the Hispanic minorities are associated with their socioeconomic status, employment, cultural background, and undocumented or foreign-born status. It is twice as likely for Hispanics to live below the poverty line, four times more likely to lack a high school education, and twenty times less likely to be proficient in English compared to non-Hispanic Whites (Velasco-Mondragon et al. 2016). In the U.S., health services are mainly offered vial employer-based health insurance, Medicaid, and Medicare. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) increased insurance coverage and played a critical role in expanding provision and access to quality health care. (Kominski, Nonzee & Sorensen, 2017). However, evidence indicates that Hispanics continue to have minimal access to health care and they rarely utilize preventative care services compared to other ethnic groups (Abraido-Lanza, Echeverria, & Florez, 2016). For instance, in 2014%, 30% of Hispanics reported to have no access to a health insurance coverage compared to 11% of Non-Hispanic Whites (Velasco-Mondragon et al, 2016). It is also evident that Hispanics tend to face a higher mortality rate compared to the rest of the population, and this is mainly attributed to occupational hazards and minimal access to quality health care services. Compared to the rest of the population, high poverty levels among Hispanics has been responsible for low access to health services thus contributing to health inequalities in the U.S. ...