COPING SKILL. Community and Social Change. Psychology Essay

Access to healthcare
Access to quality health care services plays a vital role in improving health outcomes, reducing avoidable disabilities and premature deaths, disease prevention as well as achieving health equity for all people. Usually, access to healthcare forms the standards for patient encounters in the health system. Despite the benefits, patient care access has not been a reality to many patients across the world, especially the vulnerable groups. Frequently, when a patient is unable to access quality medical services, it becomes hard for them to maintain their wellness.
Today, access to quality medical care forms a critical component in any healthcare system. According to Kim-Lu (2016), limited access to health services can be linked to the lack of knowledge among people in a society as well as lack of adequate resources. In developed countries like the United States, lack of proper knowledge when seeking medical care is the most significant factor in reduced access to healthcare services. Research shows that men are more affected by delayed health-seeking behaviors (Douthit et al., 2015). These patterns can be linked to subjective decision making, poor relationship with healthcare providers as well as ineffective responses by health professionals.
On the other hand, family prioritization for out of pockets services and the inability to travel to access health care facilities has been considered as the significant challenge in women (Douthit et al., 2015). In reality, out-of-pocket expenses to medical services pose a substantial financial burden to vulnerable populations like low-income families. Access to health care service entails the use of personal and public health services to achieve the best health outcomes. It involves gaining access to the health care system, identifying the location where desired health care services are offered as well as finding healthcare providers whom a patient can trust and build a healthy personal relationship (Access to Health Services | Healthy People 2020, 2019). Typically, the ease of access to health services can be linked to the social, physical, and mental health, as well as the quality of life of a person.
In the United States, in spite of the interventions to eliminate healthcare disparities, access to healthcare, high morbidity, and mortality remains a substantial challenge among the vulnerable populations. Research shows that low-income Americans more likely to have poor health status and less likely to have access to different forms of health care services (Osborn et al., 2016). Vulnerable populations in United States include but not limited minority groups, economically disadvantaged, homeless, uninsured, children from low income families, people suffering chronic health conditions such as HIV, cancer and severe mental illness. Moreover, people living in rural areas face challenges in accessing healthcare services compared to those living in urban areas (Kim-Lu, 2016). In a nutshell, health and healthcare probl...