What are some other examples where you have seen or experienced issues of access for women of color in the healthcare system? Have you experienced or heard stories that relates with healthcare system? What are your thoughts on how can we push for more humane approaches and standards of care? Feel free to bring in personal stories and links to stories, information, and organizations.

 

• Women of color have longer time waiting for attendants
• Some were told about the pay of the bill before being assessed
• Number-based queues, pre-assessment and categorized waiting areas, increment payments, pay when cured

Step-by-step explanation

• Women of color often encounter a difficult access to healthcare in hospitals especially in receiving areas. One of the instances I have and we all can observe of such case, is that women of color have a significantly longer time waiting in receiving areas before they are attended by staffs. It's not just women of color but every person of color seems to encounter this negative experience experience, it's just that most women of color do not complain but they frequently ask for follow-ups. This observation is a clear discrimination of women of color in healthcare, even if healthcare staffs are required by oath to attend to everyone regardless of color, age or sex, some still have their discriminatory preconceptions.
• Another issue that is not often talked about is some patients are often questioned on their ability to pay for medical bills. They are either asked directly if they can pay or indirectly by stating the amount of the medical help they are needing before they are even assessed. Health is essential, payments should come later.
• These may not be practical but, we need to remove any potentially discriminating methods of receiving patients. This can be achieved if we are firm with our rules on receiving patients. A number-based queue system should be imposed on all medical facilities. This implies that whoever is next should be attended immediately. We should also utilize pre-assessment data of patients, instead of pre-assessing or pre-screening them and having them wait in a general receiving area, categorize them according to the information they have provided in the pre-assessment documents. Doing this implies that they are prioritized in whatever type of medical emergency they need. As for payments, we should make a policy that patients should not be questioned on their ability to pay for healthcare, if we cant, offer them options of payment instead. We can have patients pay in increments or pay when they get cured. As was said, these may not be practical recommendations and are purley based on observations.