Mental illness decreases the ability to make healthy behavior changes, weakens protective behaviors and inhibits access to and compliance with appropriate treatment. The mental health needs of minorities are not adequately being met, due in part to their lower levels of health insurance and income. The Federal Office of Minority Health has determined that increased economic inequality is the driving force behind the rising health disparities among Americans. 15 Minorities are more likely to be low income than are Whites. 16 Socioeconomic status impacts not only an individual's access to and use of health care, but also the quality of and benefits derived from health care.
Impoverished communities have higher numbers of homeless individuals.
Insurance Minorities are less likely to have health coverage than Whites. 6 Minorities spend a greater portion of their income on health services and are more likely to live in medically underserved areas than Whites. Minority representation in medically underserved areas is almost three times these groups' representation in the general population. For people living with AIDS, long-term survival is related to the individuals' opportunistic infections and how these infections are treated, the overall quality of medical care, prescription of protease inhibitors, and the availability of antiretroviral therapy and prophylactic drugs. 18 Minorities are less likely to receive protease inhibitors than Whites, regardless of their ability to pay for services.