Health Disparities: Get the Facts

Some U.S. populations face barriers each day that hinder their health. Factors such as inadequate health insurance, lack of education, rural or inner city residence, unemployment, poverty, and language all contribute to the unequal burden of cancer on certain populations.

• 24% of African-Americans and 23 % of Hispanics live below the poverty line.
• 18% of African-Americans and 35% of Hispanics are medically uninsured.
• 11% of Caucasians live below the poverty line and 12% are medically uninsured.

American Cancer Society is present and meeting constituents within their own communities everyday to provide culturally appropriate health education, promote screening and primary prevention through screening initiatives and programs, and partner with coalitions to help mobilize communities.

To learn more about our disparities reducing activities, please contact Joenell Henry-Tanner at joenell.henry-tanner@cancer.org.

The American Cancer Society is committed to reducing cancer health disparities.

Join us in the fight for equal access to quality health care for everyone; especially those who are uninsured and underinsured!

Poor and uninsured individuals are more likely to be treated for cancer at late stages of the disease and are more likely to die from cancer.

African-Americans are more likely to develop and die from cancer than any other racial or ethnic population, and they are more likely to be diagnosed with the disease at a later stage, contributing to the high mortality rate.

African-Americans have the highest colon cancer incidence and death rates of any racial and ethnic group in the U.S.

Hispanic women are traditionally the least likely racial and ethnic group to use cancer screening tests such as Pap tests, mammography, and clinical breast exams.

Hispanic women residing in the United States have twice the cervical cancer incidence rate of non-Hispanic women.

Levels of illness for U.S. adults with low income and education in their 30s and 40s are comparable to those of affluent adults in their 60s and 70s. (House et al., 1994)

Compared to women with private insurance, those with Medicaid or who were uninsured had approximately 50% increase in the likelihood of having stage II disease at diagnosis and a 2.4- to 2.5-fold increase in the likelihood of having advanced stage disease at diagnosis. (Ward, E. et al, 2008)

Access to health care is a problem for American Indians and Alaska Natives, who are second only to Hispanics in lacking health insurance.