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Racism in Healthcare: A Disease We Must Eradicate!

Dr. Susan Moore died from COVID-19 as racism deprived her of care. A still from a video she shared to expose the treatment

“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhumane.”

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

by Z Petrosian

In the U.S. COVID-19 has infected Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and Asian people at rates higher than whites, and the disparity is even greater when it comes to the severity of illness and death from COVID-19. Centuries of racism in the U.S. healthcare system are to blame. We don’t need more studies. We need action to demand expanded access to healthcare for all, especially people of color and very poor people, through national Medicaid for all. We must also create independent community-based boards that have the power to accept complaints, implement changes, and review materials and practices.

Centuries of racist abuses call for reparations

Racism in healthcare can be traced to the foundations of the U.S., which is based on the genocide of Native peoples and chattel enslavement of Africans. For centuries, non-white, particularly Black, people were treated as less than human, only to be kept healthy enough to work or to be experimented on without consent, as in the case of gynecological experimentation carried out by James Marion Sims on enslaved Black women. This abuse and experimentation continued long after slavery was abolished, most infamously in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study wherein Black men were deliberately infected with syphilis and denied treatment.

This abuse is not just in the past but continues to exist in healthcare, particularly in the lack of equal access to quality medical care. Studies show that, overall, Blacks who report medical problems receive less timely and lower quality treatment than whites; illness and disease is more likely to be found and addressed later in its course, resulting in worse outcomes and preventable deaths.

Dr. Susan Moore, 52, dies of COVID-19 while fighting for equal care

The quality of care routinely given to rich whites and politicians is denied to the working class and people of color. Recently Susan Moore, a dedicated Black family medicine doctor, called out racism at the hands of a white doctor and staff who were treating her for COVID-19 at a hospital in suburban Indianapolis. Being a medical professional, Dr. Moore was able to make detailed demands about the specific treatments she knew she needed even as her reported symptoms went unheeded.

Despite her objections, Dr. Moore was sent home prematurely while her condition deteriorated. “This is how Black people get killed, when you them home and they don’t know how to fight for themselves,” Dr. Moore said. Just hours later, she was transported in an ambulance to another hospital where she died from COVID-19.

This most horrible outcome was compounded by a lifetime of unequal access to medicine due to the racism of the system. Income, housing access, geography, and education all play a major role in the health outcomes of U.S. residents. But Black people are sicker and die younger even when their education levels and incomes are the same as whites. Racism kills.

An image of Dr. Susan Moore and her son.

Affected communities should have the final say on care and equal access to medical education, research, & healthcare delivery

One way to address racism in healthcare is to guarantee free medical coverage and high-quality care to everyone through national improved Medicaid for all. There should be no red tape and no medical bills; this system should cover all necessary medical care for every person in the U.S. for their entire lifetime.

Socialist countries, such as Cuba, provide excellent healthcare at no cost to patients, keeping their populations healthy through a focus on equal access to both prevention and treatment. We can also look here at home to the Veterans Administration (VA) health system to see evidence that guaranteeing health coverage improves health outcomes, especially for Black people. The VA is a health system in need of improvements – long demanded by veterans – still, while Black people in the general population have higher rates of heart disease and death than whites, a study of three million people guaranteed care through the VA showed Blacks were 37% less likely than white men to develop heart disease and had a 24% lower death rate than white patients.

Calls for improved Medicaid for all are urgent during pandemic

It should not have taken a global pandemic for racism to be more broadly recognized as a pervasive and insidious public health issue affecting all aspects of U.S. society, including the healthcare system. However, the current crises give urgency to demands for consistent, free, and equal access to healthcare.

All medical knowledge, treatments, medicines, and therapies are produced by the global working class. It is wrong to allow governments and corporations – including pharmaceutical, insurance, and hospital corporations – to hoard healthcare for the privileged few and make profits. We must take up the fight for Medicaid for all. Equal, quality healthcare is a right!

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Nurses Union: Epidemics Require End to For-Profit Healthcare

In response to the coronavirus outbreak, National Nurses United, which represents more than 150,000 registered nurses across the country, is demanding better protection for healthcare workers, temporary paid sick leave for all workers, and a ban on monopoly rights for vaccines manufacturers in order to ensure free, universally available vaccines.

In a March 2 letter addressed to the federal government they note that “the for-profit motive in our health delivery system has led to hospital closures in rural and underserved communities, system-wide short-staffing of health care workers and inadequate supplies of medicines, medical equipment (including ventilators), and PPE in health care facilities. As a result, our hospitals and health care facilities are unable to adequately respond quickly to potential COVID-19 infections.”

They note the urgent need for a national health system “in which everyone living in this country is guaranteed the health care they need.”

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Cancel All U.S. Sanctions!

The U.S. imposes sanctions on more than 39 countries, restricting access to healthcare for 1/3 of the world’s population. The coronavirus makes it clear: these inhumane sanctions endanger the whole world.

U.S. sanctions have significantly hampered Iran’s efforts to respond to the coronavirus outbreak, limiting access to medical supplies, test kits and information about the virus.

In Venezuela and People’s Korea, sanctions have killed thousands of people, primarily from lack of access to basic medicines.

Cancel all U.S. sanctions NOW!

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New Orleans Workers Group Makes Demands for Coronavirus Fight

Protect Workers, Not Profits!

As the case of China has shown, the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak requires extraordinary measures to contain its spread and its potentially lethal effects. Quarantines and potentially widespread closures of schools and businesses may be necessary. Infected people will need to be able to self-isolate without fear of going hungry, missing rent, or losing their jobs. Extra precautions will need to be taken to protect healthcare workers. The production and universal distribution of medical gear and personal protective equipment (PPE) will need to be ramped up and hoarding and price gouging strictly prohibited. In other words, to stop the spread of an epidemic requires economic planning and cooperation that protects the health of the whole social body, not just the rich. The New Orleans Workers Group makes the following demands:

  • All costs for COVID-19 treatment and containment should be born by the government including reimbursement for lost wages. No worker should risk spreading the virus for lack of income.
  • Childcare should be universally available to parents in the event of school closures.
  • Tests should be free for all residents and administered at conveniently located test centers throughout the country.
  • Price controls should be put into effect to shield workers from the disruptive effects that the virus has had on the global economy.
  • Workers’ 401(k)s should be protected from devaluation in stock prices. A moratorium should go into effect immediately.
  • Manufacturing of medical gear and PPE should be ordered to meet need without regard to private profits.
  • A system for free food distribution to quarantined areas and self-isolated households should be put into effect
  • Every resident is entitled to these protections to income, health, etc. regardless of citizenship status.
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Coronavirus Fight Requires International Solidarity

By Ashlee Pintos

The current conditions for workers in the United States leave us extremely vulnerable to sickness and disease. With the lack of comprehensive, if any, healthcare, no guarantee of paid sick days, and demanding daily responsibilities on top of low wages, it is no wonder the majority of us are terrified of contracting an illness as unknown as the new coronavirus. While we have real, valid reasons to be concerned about the spread of any life-threatening virus, we should not allow our vulnerability to be weaponized into racism or paranoia.

The truth is that the United States government will use anything that they can to divide us. The latest coronavirus (COVID-19) is no exception. COVID-19 starts with flu-like symptoms such as fever, dry cough and in more extreme cases, shortness of breath. COVID-19 is a mutation of one of many existing coronaviruses. The majority of the population has already experienced a different strain of coronavirus which usually produces symptoms similar to the common cold.

Since the virus first appeared in China, it has spread to over 60 countries and killed over 3,000 people. While this number is seemingly high, context matters. Just this season alone, the flu has killed 10,000 people in the United States. While the capitalist owned media run to fan the flames of anti-Chinese sentiment, they have done very little to provide U.S. residents with scientific information and tools to prevent the common flu, which has killed as many as 60,000 people in recent seasons.

While China built a hospital in 10 days to address the threat that the coronavirus poses to its residents, Trump initially claimed that the outbreak was a “hoax.” Meanwhile Trump is pushing for massive cuts to Medicaid which will leave millions more without health insurance. Because the Chinese government has undertaken extraordinary steps to contain the spread of the virus within their country, the number of new cases outside of China now exceeds the number of new cases within, which are on the decline, according to the World Health Organization. This means that it is now the duty of other governments to cooperate in order to prevent a large-scale global outbreak. Socialist Cuba shows the way forward: while the U.S. did not offer China assistance, Cuban medical teams traveled to China. Cuba has produced antivirals that were used to treat people infected with the coronavirus and they are actively working to develop a vaccine.

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Rural Healthcare: United States vs. Vietnam

United States ☒
Vietnam ☑

By Gregory William

There is a crisis of rural health care in the U.S. Since 2005, over one hundred rural hospitals have closed across the country. Many more are on the verge. A study by the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program found that of the 89 hospitals that have closed since 2010, the vast majority (67) were in the South.

The authors of the Rural Health Research study note that the increase in closures coincides with the 2008-2009 recession, meaning that it is tied to the cyclical crises inherent in the capitalist system. Closures also accelerated in states that did not accept Medicaid expansion. In these mostly southern states, people also tend to be poorer, are more likely to be uninsured, and therefore cannot pay for care. Since our medical system is based around corporate greed and not people’s needs, the closure of hospitals and other healthcare facilities is unsurprising. In fact, the majority of hospitals that have closed are privately-owned, that is, for-profit hospitals.

It’s been drilled into our heads that the market always knows best, that if everything is privatized and for profit, things will run more efficiently. However, we see that the profit motive leads to extreme inefficiency and worse, hardship for the masses of people. How is this reasonable?

Communities across the U.S. lack hospitals and even basic clinics, and people cannot afford care. And yet, there is a parasitic class of “healthcare billionaires,” like Thomas Frist Jr., co-founder of the Hospital Corporation of America. His net worth is $11.6 billion, making him the wealthiest person in Tennessee. This is ironic considering that Tennessee had the highest number of hospital closures after Texas!

Of course, it doesn’t have to be this way. The U.S. has a GDP of about $20 trillion, almost 90 times the size of Vietnam’s GDP ($223.9 billion). Despite having a much smaller economy, Vietnam assures that every ward in the country (including in rural areas) has a clinic. When there isn’t a resident doctor in a village, the Ministry of Health assigns doctors to rotations. Vietnam is also on track to ensuring health coverage to all citizens.

This isn’t an accident. The fact is that Vietnam still has socialist, rational economic planning. Because they had a socialist revolution, the masses of working people have a real say over the direction of the country’s development (even if the government has allowed some capitalism to return).

The state still owns the oil and gas industry, and mostly controls banking, insurance, mobile service, construction, electricity production, ship-building, and many other industries. Land cannot be bought or sold because it belongs to the entire people. Because there is socialist, collective ownership in the economy (without profit being the only consideration), the government can make rational decisions about what to do with social resources. They can say,

“People in this area need a hospital, so we will build a hospital. This clinic doesn’t have a doctor, so we’ll assign one to work there.”

Again, all this is possible because working class and oppressed people fought for these things and won. Collectively, we too have to make the decision that our health—our lives—will not be a commodity. We have to organize to take power and overthrow the capitalist class so that we can pursue socio-economic development that meets the needs of the people and doesn’t destroy the planet.

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Keep Federal Health Centers Free for All Residents

The federally qualified health center, or FQHC, is a vital component of the U.S. healthcare safety net. The FQHC model was developed, in part, here in the Mississippi Delta in the 1960’s to combat structural racism. The centers were signed into law and expanded nationally within the same decade as the Civil Rights Act, Medicare, and Medicaid. Today, this government designation enables community health centers to provide affordable, and, in many cases, free doctor’s visits to 28 million people every year. This is an invaluable service for the more than 59 million Americans who have inadequate health insurance coverage (both uninsured and underinsured).

Despite vicious federal cutbacks over the years since their inception, the FQHC has remained effective in reducing health disparities while also bringing jobs and economic opportunities to the country’s most structurally impoverished communities. These centers continue to serve as medical homes for 8.4 million children, 1.4 million homeless persons, and half of all people living in poverty in the US. (National Association of Community Health Centers Factsheet 2018)

Here in Louisiana, where undocumented refugee children and families do not qualify for Medicaid, FQHCs are the only option for healthcare for thousands of New Orleanians. These families are covered under FQHC’s federal mandate to “operate in a manner such that no patient shall be denied service due to an individual’s inability to pay” (HHS/HRSA Health Center Program handbook, p. 37).

Tragically, over recent months, several New Orleans’ clinics have implemented a minimum $40 fee for clinic visits, resulting in downstream effects such as parents canceling long-awaited pediatrician visits. No family should ever have to choose between putting food on the table or taking their child to the doctor. Physicians working in one particular clinic group have witnessed patients being turned away for not being able to provide proof of income. These practices are blatantly in violation of the FQHC mandate- services must be affordable, and no patient is to be turned away from health care services. Such attacks on the human right to health care fall squarely on vulnerable families such as those who have endured unimaginable trauma and risk to their lives to seek a safe haven here in the US.

In a country known for its shoddy safety net, the FQHC system is a legacy we can be proud of. As physicians and community members, we must fiercely guard the integrity of this vital institution. No center under the designation of the FQHC banner has the right to turn patients away based on income or any other criteria, and it is our duty to bring the illegal and cruel behavior of these corporations to light. To quote Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhuman.”

– Dr. Virginia Byron

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Cuban Doctors to Help Patients in South Side Chicago

Cuba’s infant mortality rate is lower than the U.S. according to the World Health Organization. A partnership signed between the University of Illinois Cancer Center and the Cuban Ministry of Public Health has teamed up three Cuban doctors and a nurse with their U.S. counterparts during home visits to 50 women of reproductive age in Englewood, according to Kaiser Health News.

In exchange for a US $50 stipend, the women responded to a questionnaire that includes questions such as: “In the last 12 months, have you had any problems with any bug infestations, rodents or mold?” or “Have you ever had teeth removed or crowned because of a cavity?” The questions cover a range of topics, including emotional well being and condition of one’s residence.

Cuba’s Minister of Public Health, Roberto Morales, explained Cuba’s success. “The entire health care system in the country is about lives saved, quality of life, happiness and satisfaction for our people,”.

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Hospitality Workers Committee Fights for Medical Coverage – Wins!

By Margaret Maloney

On May 15th, The New Orleans Hospitality Workers Committee shook up the Tourism & Marketing Board Corporation meeting. The Tourism & Marketing Board Corporation is an unelected board that gets over 140 million dollars of the tax payers money to play with. This money completely bypasses the general budget without the people’s consent. Several members of The New Orleans Hospitality Workers Committee gave statements demanding that
the Tourism Corporation return the people’s money by building a FREE FULL-SERVICE medical clinic for hospitality workers & paying ALL Laura’s medical bills. Laura, a career Hospitality worker, is critically ill  because of a lack of insurance. The committee demanded that the Tourism  Corporation give them an answer to their demands in ten days.

The NOHWC then opened a banner and chanted “Tax money for Worker’s needs, Not Tax Money For Corporate Greed!”. And “We are the Ones Who Make Your Profit, We are Dying When You Can Stop It”.

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Hospitality Workers Commitee Demands Health Insurance, Clinic, Livable Scheduling and Sick Pay

The New Orleans Hospitality Workers Committee met with a fellow worker named Laura, a mother, and a long-time, hospitality worker. At age 43, Laura hasn’t had insurance for about 2 years. Why? She couldn’t afford it. This year, she finally went to the hospital to find that she had a severe heart infection that must have been brewing for 5 months to a year, and what happened? She almost got kicked out of the hospital! By action on behalf of community members and doctors such as Mark-Alain Dery, she was able to stay. However, Laura’s life is in critical condition, and should she survive, she or her family will likely face medical debt. Her case is an example for thousands of workers and their families every year. Is this acceptable?

The New Orleans Hospitality Workers Committee thinks not. We know that the Tourism Marketing Corporation has the capacity to pay for Laura’s insurance, as well as all the hospitality workers of New Orleans. With over $140 Million per year, it is entirely possible that the city provides workers with a full service medical clinic. We, the workers must stand up together, with our families and communities, against the rich making decisions at the expense of our lives! We can no longer work day-in and day-out with a smile on our face while corporations and politicians steal our money.