Many who get top-notch health care, don't realize how prejudice can reduce your access to optimal health care. I just heard Kamala Harris talk about this on The View. She acknowledged that many Black Americans have received less than optimal health care over time. I know this is true due to racism and a long history of economic and environmental injustice.
In my life, I've experienced health care prejudice due to being a woman and also due some of my pre-existing conditions. Once, when I wanted advice about reproductive matters, a local health clinic would not provide me with the information since they represented a specific religion. Fortunately, on the side, the doctor handed me a piece of paper with a doctor's name and number that would provide me with the information and care I needed--care that truly helped me to make wise choices for myself, my relationship, and my future children.
On another occassion, I went to the doctor with significant pain. The doctor blamed the pain on my weight and did not take it seriously. Later that week, I went to the emergency room with the same pain--they gave me pain pills and also did not take the pain seriously. Finally, after experiencing the pain for a week or so, my mom told her Bridge Group. One of the women in the group had experienced similar pain, and actually pinpointed my problem. Upon going to the emergency room again, I told the doctor the Bridge Club women's diagnosis--they explored that, and what do you know I had the oldtime ailment that woman diagnosed. After that, I was finally treated well.
There was also a time when a male doctor wanted to treat an illness I had with a very complex set of procedures. I called my mom, and her first reaction was, "That's crazy, get another point of view." I followed her advice and got another and then another point of view. Finally, I landed with a good doctor who had a streamlined, smart approach to the problem that has served me well for years. Had I gone with the first doctor, I would have had to sacrfice my health in some significant ways.
There was also a time when I had a miscarriage that I've looked back on only to notice there were issues the doctors never shared with me, issues, if addressed, may have saved the baby. I worked with a women once who lost a child, and from all I know, it seems that she had poor care.
We know that inequity occurs in every organization due to ignorance and prejudice, and we all have to work against this inequity so that all Americans profit from optimal health care, education, law enforcement, and public services. That's why our organizations have to continually develop to include greater equity, understanding, knowledge, and care--this will be a constant evolution over time--an evolution we should all commit to in ways that we can.