Yet economics does not explain everything. Poverty accounts for only about one-third of the health differences, according to the CDC's Marks. For instance, a black baby is more than twice as likely as a white baby to die before his or her first birthday. Babies of largely poor West African immigrants, however, survive just as well as whites. The poverty rate is high for Mexican Americans, and many have no health insurance, yet they are less likely than either whites or blacks to die from common illnesses, such as heart disease or cancer.
Racism can rob that sense of personal control.
In a new, and controversial, area of study, some researchers say that experiencing discrimination influences health by increasing stress and raising blood pressure. West Africans generally have low blood pressure, and blacks in the Caribbean have slightly higher blood pressure, but for African Americans, high blood pressure is epidemic. Such facts would seem to disprove any biological basis for the health differences among ethnic groups. Still, scientists using federal money are looking to see whether there is a genetic explanation for why various groups are more prone to certain conditions. Another common perception holds that if more members of minority groups, particularly blacks, were to have health insurance and go to doctors more often, they would be healthier.