Newsletters

COVID-19 Compounding Health Inequalities

Nicole Gonzalez, MPH Research Specialist, Center for Global Health, UIC College of Medicine

The COVID-19 pandemic has compounded a number of factors impacting health inequities.

Systemic racism, inherent in so many facets of life in the United States, has led to discrimination in health care, unequal access to care, and higher burdens of morbidity and mortality – the latter of which is the result of “racism and not race.” Implicit biases among healthcare providers can negatively impact patient-provider interactions, treatment decisions, treatment adherence, and patient health outcomes. Indigenous, Black, and Latinx communities are at the highest risk of lacking health insurance, with uninsured rates of 22%, 19%, and 11% respectively.