Health Inequality In The United States

The health of citizens in the United States has fluctuated tremendously over the count of decades. Communities of wealth have maintained the opportunity to have a healthy lifestyle, whereas rural communities have not been fortunate enough to have that same opportunity to progress towards a healthy lifestyle. This is confirmed by Donald Barr, “those with lower levels of income tend to have lower health status than those of higher levels of income” (2014). Unfortunately, many people are given equality, but that cannot help their health as much as equity can. Equity is about looking at the individual needs of people and actually making it possible for people to receive full health. As stated, “Health is the combination of the physiological, psychological, social …show more content…
There are several components of social determinants that encompasses the explanation of why residents who live in food deserts are facing a reduced rate of health. Thus, the continuation of lack of funding to build into a stronger, healthier community. Healthy supermarkets are predicted to go out of business in a rural community because residents do not have the financial stability to buy items. Therefore, leaving residents with no healthy alternatives. The absence of supermarkets opens the convenience of fast food chains to take over the stomachs of residents. Fast food is a cheap and a quick meal for lower-income families who cannot afford the time or money to buy ingredients like fruits and vegetables to cook a healthy homemade meal. In the spoken word, this image is illustrated, “Jose, eats fast food five days a week because his mother works three jobs to take care of six kids” (Smith 2013). This part of Smith’s spoken word exposes the truth of what it is like for residents to live around food