Health Disparities of the Homeless Population of New York City

Health Disparities of the Homeless Population of New York City

The New York City governance has made considerable advances in health by supporting the provision of more affordable and accessible healthcare services. However, not every New Yorker has benefited equally from such provisions. There are a lot of factors affecting New Yorkers that create barriers to access to health care. The population census shows poor New Yorkers are poorer than the national average (Sommerfeldt, 2021). This has contributed to the high levels of homelessness in New York City. According to research, homelessness is closely associated with most health disparities, majorly a shorter life expectancy, higher morbidity, and lack of health insurance. The health disparities among the homeless populations are interrelated and interconnected. A common health disparity among the homeless population of New York City is high morbidity.

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High Morbidity among the Homeless Population of New York

Morbidity is a specific health condition that is usually chronic. Homeless populations are prone to various health issues, illicit substances, and drug use. According to (Bowen et al., 2019), people experiencing homelessness exhibit high rates of disease and disability with reduced access to healthcare services and poor disease prognosis compared with housed populations. Due to their financial situation and drug use, homeless people usually experience reduced physical and mental health. They are also more likely to lack access to healthy foods and clean water, risking chronic diseases. The common morbidities among the homeless population include tuberculosis, diabetes, mental health diseases, obesity, hypertension, Alzheimer’s disease, flu, and asthma. The high morbidity among homeless people is because they mainly focus on meeting their food needs rather than their health needs. They, therefore, are more likely to have cases of multimorbidity.

Effect of High Morbidity among Homeless People on Healthcare Delivery

Homeless New Yorkers have a disproportionate burden of disease. Managing high morbidity and multimorbidity cases among homeless people is complicated. High morbidity and multimorbidity cases increase healthcare utilization rates and costs in primary and acute settings (Soley-Bori et al., 2020). Homeless people tend to have a higher healthcare utilization rate due to the high morbidity among the population. However, homeless people face social burdens and structural barriers to healthcare services that worsen the high morbidity and increase mortality rates (Liu & Hwang, 2021). Homeless people in New York City are also more likely to be uninsured. This accounts for the majority of the local government’s long-term spending on the delivery of health care services to homeless people. The high morbidity among homeless New Yorkers, therefore, has a negative impact on health care delivery.

Influences of High Morbidity on Homeless Populations in Other Countries and the Provision of Global Healthcare

The rate of homelessness and experienced disparities vary from country to country around the world. However, regardless of the region experienced, homelessness is associated with new and worsened health conditions. The risk of high morbidity among homeless populations remains high, negatively impacting global healthcare. High morbidity among homeless populations contributes to increased healthcare services demand among an uninsured population. This may push the cost of health care services and life as a whole to increase as the insured populations are required to pay more to cover the uninsured and homeless population.

Recommendations

To improve health outcomes and reduce the high morbidity among homeless New Yorkers, it is recommended that the New York City governance and healthcare stakeholders improve research involving the homeless population. This can help understand the uniqueness of the health needs of the homeless people and design effective and efficient strategies to manage and control the high morbidity among homeless people.

References

Bowen, E., Savino, R., & Irish, A. (2019). Homelessness and Health Disparities: A Health Equity Lens. Homelessness Prevention and Intervention in Social Work, 57–83. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03727-7_3

Liu, M., & Hwang, S. W. (2021). Health care for homeless people. Nature Reviews Disease Primers 2021 7:1, 7(1), 1–2. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41572-020-00241-2

Soley-Bori, M., Ashworth, M., Bisquera, A., Dodhia, H., Lynch, R., Wang, Y., & Fox-Rushby, J. (2020). Impact of multimorbidity on healthcare costs and utilization: a systematic review of the UK literature. The British Journal of General Practice : The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 71(702), E39–E46. https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP20X713897

Sommerfeldt, C. (2021, December 13). NYC poverty rate kept dropping pre-COVID, still higher than the national. New York Daily News. https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/new-york-elections-government/ny-nyc-poverty-rate-dropped-pandemic-national-average-20211213-bic3qlb2cjbodgbwwd2rot6jjy-story.htmla:link {text-decoration: none;}a:visited {text-decoration: none;
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Use your assessment data from week 3 to identify significant health disparities in your at-risk group.
Research and propose recommendations to decrease one of these disparities.

Health Disparities of the Homeless Population of New York City

Write a 2-page (500-word) paper in the form of a proposal to area leaders to address the disparity in your community. Your proposal should include:
A description of the disparity.
The influences the disparity has on healthcare delivery.
The influences the disparity has on similar populations in other countries and the provision of global healthcare.
Recommendations to address the problem.