Lenape Wuskén
(Lenape News)
Siquon - Spring
Access to Quality Healthcare Not Improving
for Native Americans and Other Groups
By Michelle Tirado · 03/04/2011
· American Indian Report -
Falmouth Institute
Health · Tagged: featured While the quality of
healthcare in the United States is improving, albeit at a snail’s pace,
disparities based on race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status and other
factors have hardly budged, according to the recently released 2010
National Healthcare Disparities Report.
The report, published every year since 2003 by the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality, looks at the status of healthcare quality and
disparities in the nation, how they have changed over time and where the
needs are for improvement.
It uses a group of more than 200 core measures that
are categorized in several areas of quality: effectiveness, patient
safety, timeliness, patient-centeredness, care coordination, efficiency,
health system infrastructure and access.
Across all 179 measures of healthcare quality,
nearly two-thirds showed improvement, the 2010 report said. The median
rate of change was 2.3 percent per year.
The story was different for access to care, which
showed no improvement in about 60 percent of 22 measures. In fact, the
other roughly 40 percent were heading in the other direction, the report
stated. The median rate of change: -0.6 percent per year.
Few disparities faced by race/ethnic groups are
getting smaller. Less than 20 percent of those gaps faced by American
Indians/Alaska Natives, as well as Blacks, Hispanics and the poor
people, showed signs of narrowing. The Asian/White gap narrowed for
about 30 percent of the core measures.
The report found that Blacks and AI/AN people
received worse care than Whites for about 40 percent of the core
measure, compared to 20 percent for Asians, 60 percent for Hispanics and
80 percent for low-income people.
AI/AN and Asians had worse access to care than
Whites for one of five measures, compared to one-third of the measures
for Blacks, five out of six measures for Hispanics and all six measures
for poor people.
The hefty report is available online in PDF format.
Copy & paste this link in your browser
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhdr10/nhdr10.
Women’s History Month: March 2008
National Women’s History Month’s roots go back to March 8, 1857, when
women from New York City factories staged a protest over working
conditions. International Women’s Day was first observed in 1909, but it
wasn’t until 1981 that Congress established National Women’s History
Week to be commemorated the second week of March. In 1987, Congress
expanded the week to a month. Every year since, Congress has passed a
resolution for Women’s History Month, and the president has issued a
proclamation.
153.6 million
The number of females in the United States as of Oct. 1, 2007.
The number of males is 149.4 million.
Source: Population estimates <http://www.census.gov/popest/national/asrh/2006_nat_res.html>
As of July 1, 2006, males outnumbered females through age 41. Starting
at 42, women outnumbered men. At 85 and older, there were more than
twice as many women as men.
Source: Population estimates <http://www.census.gov/popest/datasets.html>
Motherhood
82.8 million
Estimated number of mothers of all ages in the United States.
Source: unpublished data from Survey of Income and Program Participation
1.9
Average number of children that women 40 to 44 had given birth to as of
2004, down from 3.1 children in 1976, the year the Census Bureau began
collecting such data. Likewise, the percentage of women in this age
group who were mothers was 81 percent in 2004, down from 90 percent in
1976.
Source: Fertility of American Women <http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/fertility.html>
Earnings
$32,649
The median annual earnings of women 16 or older who worked year-round,
full time, in 2006. Women earned 77 cents for every $1 earned by men.
Source: American Community Survey <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/010583.html>
98 cents
The amount women ($48,586) in the District of Columbia, who worked
year-round, full time, earned for every $1 their male counterparts
earned ($49,544) in 2006. Among all states or state equivalents, the
district was where women were closest to earnings parity with men.
Connecticut, Maryland and New Jersey were the only states where median
earnings for women were greater than $40,000.
Source: American Community Survey <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/010583.html>
$61,081
Median earnings of women working in computer and mathematical jobs, the
highest for women among the 22 major occupational groups. In the
community and social services group, women’s earnings as a percentage of
men’s earnings were higher than 90 percent.
Source: American Community Survey <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/010583.html>
Education
32%
Percent of women 25 to 29 who had attained a bachelor’s degree or higher
in 2006, which exceeded that of men in this age range (25 percent).
Eighty-eight percent of women and 84 percent of men in this same age
range had completed high school.
Source: Educational Attainment in the United States: 2006 <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/education/009749.html>
86%
Percent of women 25 and older who had completed high school as of 2006.
High school graduation rates for women continued to exceed those of men
(85 percent).
Source: Educational Attainment in the United States: 2006 <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/education/009749.html>
26.8 million
Number of women 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or more education
in 2006, more than double the number 20 years earlier.
Source: Educational Attainment in the United States: 2006 <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/education/009749.html>
27%
Percent of women 25 and older who had obtained a bachelor’s degree or
more as of 2006. This rate was up 11 percentage points from 20 years
earlier.
Source: Educational Attainment in the United States: 2006 <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/education/009749.html>
894,000
The projected number of bachelor’s degrees that will be awarded to women
in the 2007-08 school year, who are also projected to earn 380,000
master’s degrees during this period. Women would, therefore, earn 59
percent of the bachelor’s and 61 percent of the master’s degrees awarded
during this school year. In addition, women would earn a majority (52
percent) of first-professional degrees, such as law and medical.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics, Projections of
Education Statistics to 2015 <http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006084>
Businesses
Source for the statements in this section:
Women-Owned Firms: 2002 <http://www.census.gov/prod/ec02/sb0200cswmnt.pdf>
and
Company Summary: 2002 <http://www.census.gov/prod/ec02/sb0200cscosumt.pdf>
More than $939 billion
Revenue for women-owned businesses in 2002. There were 116,985
women-owned firms with receipts of $1 million or more.
Nearly 6.5 million
The number of women-owned businesses in 2002. Women owned 28 percent of
all nonfarm businesses.
More than 7.1 million
Number of people employed by women-owned businesses. There were 7,231
women-owned firms with 100 or more employees, generating $274 billion in
gross receipts.
Nearly one in three women-owned firms operated in health care and social
assistance, and other services, such as personal services, and repair
and maintenance. Women owned 72 percent of social assistance businesses
and just over half of nursing and residential care facilities. Wholesale
and retail trade accounted for 38.2 percent of women-owned business
revenue.
13%
Percentage of women-owned firms in California. California had the most
women-owned firms at 870,496. New York was second with 505,077 or 8
percent of all firms. Texas was third in number of firms with 468,705,
accounting for 7 percent of all firms.
Voting
65%
Percentage of female citizens 18 and older who reported voting in the
2004 presidential election. Sixty-two percent of their male counterparts
cast a ballot.
Source: Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2004
<http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/voting/004986.html>
Jobs
59%
On average in 2006, the percent of females 16 and older who participated
in the labor force, representing about 70.2 million women. More than 50
million women worked full time. The participation rate for males in this
age category was 74 percent.
Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics <http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat2.pdf>
37%
Percent of females 16 or older who work in management, professional and
related occupations, compared with 31 percent of males.
Source: 2006 American Community Survey <http://factfinder.census.gov>
22 million
Number of female workers in educational services, health care and social
assistance industries. More women work in this industry group than in
any other. Within this industry group, 11 million work in the health
care industry and 8.4 million in educational services.
Source: 2006 American Community Survey <http://factfinder.census.gov>
39%
In 2004, among women 20 to 64 who did not work for four or more
consecutive months, the percentage taking care of children or others.
This was the primary reason among such women for not working. By
comparison, 2 percent of corresponding men did not work for this reason.
Source: Reasons People Do Not Work: 2004 <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/employment_occupations/010621.html>
60%
Chances that your taxes will be prepared by a woman, as this is the
percentage of tax preparers who are women. In addition, 77 percent of
travel agents are women, so it is likely a woman will help you plan your
next vacation.
Source: Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2008, Table
598. <http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/>
84,000
Number of female police officers. In addition, there are about 9,000
women firefighters, 315,000 lawyers, 278,000 physicians and surgeons,
and 37,000 pilots.
Source: Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2008, Tables
598 and 1050. <http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/>
Military
202,000
Total number of active duty women in the military, as of Sept. 30, 2006.
Of that total, 34,000 women were officers, and 168,000 were enlisted.
Source: Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2008, Table
498. <http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/>
15%
Proportion of members of the armed forces who were women, as of Sept.
30, 2006. In 1950, women comprised less than 2 percent.
Source: Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2008, Table
498. <http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/>
1.7 million
The number of military veterans who are women.
Source: Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2008, Tables
506. <http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/>
Marriage
62.4 million
Number of married women (including those who are separated or have an
absent spouse) in 2006. There were 59.8 million unmarried (widowed,
divorced or never married) women.
Source: 2006 American Community Survey <http://factfinder.census.gov>
18%
Percentage of married couples in which the wife earned at least $5,000
more than the husband in 2006. Among 22 percent of married couples, the
wife had more education than the husband.
Source: Families and Living Arrangments: 2006 <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/families_households/009842.html>
5.6 million
Number of stay-at-home mothers nationwide in 2006, up from 4.6 million a
decade earlier.
Source: Families and Living Arrangments: 2006 <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/families_households/009842.html>
Computers
84%
Proportion of women with computers in the home in 2003 who made use of
that computer, 2 percentage points higher than the corresponding
proportion for men. This reverses the computer use gender gap exhibited
during the 1980s and 1990s.
Source: Computer and Internet Use in the United States: 2003 <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/miscellaneous/005863.html>
The Spirit of Volunteerism
30%
Percentage of women who volunteer. The corresponding rate for men is 23
percent. Overall, 36 million women perform unpaid volunteer activities.
Source: Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2008, Table
568. <http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/>
Sports
3 million
Number of girls who participated in high school athletic programs in the
2005-06 school year. In the 1975-76 school year, only 1.6 million girls
were members of a high school athletic team.
Source: Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2008, Table
1221. <http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/>
168,583
Number of women who participated in an NCAA sport in 2005-06.
Source: Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2008, Table
1220. <http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/>