Health Affairs, 24, no. 2 (2005): 317-324 doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.24.2.317 © 2005 by Project HOPE	New Online   Pay Cuts For Medicare Docs   Access To Care Woes   Public Coverage More Efficient   Empowering Consumers

This Article Full Text (HTML) Reprint (PDF) Submit a response to this article Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services E-mail this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to My Personal Archive Download to Citation Manager Reprints & Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (8) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Smith, D. B. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Smith, D. B. Related Collections Access To Care Consumer Issues Determinants Of Health Ethical Issues Health Reform Minority Health Politics

Origins Of Disparities

Racial And Ethnic Health Disparities And The Unfinished Civil Rights Agenda

Civil rights–era efforts to end disparities in health care in federally financed health programs faced three successively more difficult challenges: (1) ending Jim Crow practices, (2) eliminating more subtle forms of segregation, and (3) assuring nondiscriminatory treatment in integrated settings. Federal efforts peaked with the implementation of the Medicare program. Visible symbols of Jim Crow disappeared, and most crude disparities in access were eliminated. The unfinished parts of the civil rights–era agenda, the persistence of more subtle forms of segregation, and the failure to assure nondiscriminatory treatment pose major challenges to current efforts to eliminate health care disparities.

                      What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. Norris and A. R. Nissenson Race, Gender, and Socioeconomic Disparities in CKD in the United States J. Am. Soc. Nephrol., July 1, 2008; 19(7): 1261 - 1270. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				W. R. Smith, J. R. Betancourt, M. K. Wynia, J. Bussey-Jones, V. E. Stone, C. O. Phillips, A. Fernandez, E. Jacobs, and J. Bowles Recommendations for Teaching about Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health and Health Care Ann Intern Med, November 6, 2007; 147(9): 654 - 665. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. F. Ferraro, R. J. Thorpe Jr, G. P. McCabe, J. A. Kelley-Moore, and Z. Jiang The color of hospitalization over the adult life course: cumulative disadvantage in black and white? J. Gerontol. B. Psychol. Sci. Soc. Sci., November 1, 2006; 61(6): S299 - S306. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. K. Gibbs, L. Nsiah-Jefferson, M. D. McHugh, A. N. Trivedi, and D. Prothrow-Stith Reducing Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities: Exploring an Outcome-Oriented Agenda for Research and Policy Journal of Health Politics Policy and Law, February 1, 2006; 31(1): 185 - 218. [Abstract] [PDF]

				J. Kruse FAMILY MEDICINE LEGISLATIVE ADVOCACY: OUR POWERFUL MESSAGE Ann. Fam. Med, September 1, 2005; 3(5): 468 - 469. [Full Text] [PDF]

				N. Lurie, M. Jung, and R. Lavizzo-Mourey Disparities And Quality Improvement: Federal Policy Levers Health Aff., March 1, 2005; 24(2): 354 - 364. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]