Health Service Funding Cuts and the Declining Health of the Poor

Racial Residential Segregation: A Fundamental Cause of Racial Disparities in Health

“…During the early 1980s, in the wake of substantial changes in social and economic policies at the national level, the health status of economically vulnerable populations worsened in several states. 46,47 Similarly, the black-white gap in health status widened between 1980 and 1991 for multiple health outcomes, including life expectancy, excess deaths, and infant mortality. 35,48 Segregation and the Effects of Place Segregation can also adversely affect health by creating a broad range of pathogenic residential conditions that can induce adverse effects on health status.…”

Reimbursement Incentives for Hospital Care

“…Access to medical care for the poor was markedly improved by Title XIX of the Social Security Act of 1965, which established the Medicaid program, but is now decreasing as a result of a continuing annual decrement in federal funding for health care for the poor and uninsured (27,36). The congress is not unmindful of the problem.…”

Fixing that Great Hodgepodge: Health Care for the Poor in the U.S.

“…The free choice of provider requirement for the Medicaid program was waived, enabling states to develop innovative arrangements for enrolling Medicaid-eligibles with preferred providers or case-management oriented primary care networks and by prescribing the amount which Medicaid recipients would pay out-of-pocket for certain optional, as well as mandatory, services (Altman, 1983;Mundinger, 1985).…”