Health leaders say disparities stifle "legitimate" reform conversation

With the national debate on health care focusing on broadening insurance options, a panel of experts last night focused on what they say is a far more important issue facing the Chicago area -- racial disparities in access to care.

Language barriers, education and income, and lack of access to treatment affect many minorities in the area, they said.

In Cook County alone, 30 percent of Asians are "language isolated," said Dr. Hong Liu, executive director of the Asian Health Coaliltion of Illinois, meaning they are often unable to understand diagnoses or treatment options.

The county's Asian population also has elevated rates of cancer, liver disease and depression, and has the lowest screening rates of all ethnic groups she said.

The discussion on health and health care disparities focused on the need to provide care for all, but also to promote education at a grassroots level, panelists at the University of Illinois at Chicago's Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement said.

Speaking to concerned citizens, Dr. Terry Mason, head of the Chicago Department of Public Health said the lack of health care to 46 million Americans stifles conversation about reform.

“We have not had a legitimate health care conversation in America yet,” he said.

And no matter what plan rises to the top, Mason said the results are what matters. He discussed his experience working in England, which has national health care; though English patients sometimes had to wait longer for an operation, they were as healthy as Americans, he said.

“The outcomes at the end of the day are the same,” Mason said. “The outcomes are what we need to worry about.”

Read the full story at the Chi-Town Daily News.