HLSC 120 Reflective Assignment Topics 2017 Topic 1 Significant concerns confronting Australian society are the inequities in health between socioeconomic (SES) groups which result in lower SES groups...

Running head: HEALTH INEQUITIES IN AUSTRALIA 1
HEALTH INEQUITIES IN AUSTRALIA: A DISCUSSION
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HEALTH INEQUITIES IN AUSTRALIA 2
Health Inequities in Australia: A Discussion
Introduction
Health care disparities are truths in the context of the Australian society. Though it is a
fact that the Australian society has strived to become an egalitarian one through adherence to
different governmental policies; it has eventually failed to emerge as a society which is more
equal, and this is primary due to the economic disparities that prevail among the different social
classes in the Australian society. It has been found that significant concerns confronting
Australian society are the inequities in health between socioeconomic (SES) groups which have
resulted in lower SES groups having significantly higher rates of morbidity and mortality at an
earlier stage. It is due to economic backwardness and owing to the economic disparities, lower
income groups in Australia are still unable to gain access to proper health care regimes, and this
is turn has made them prone to more illnesses, and this has resulted in the increase in the
morbidity rate of the individuals belonging to the concerned groups. Hence, considering the roles
and responsibilities of the government in ensuring health of every one of the populace, it
becomes imperative for the government of Australia to formulate and enact a health policy that
can address the issue and mitigate the problem while providing better access for the concerned
group to a proper health care delivery system.
Reflection
Economic disparity and wage disparities, both are grave problems that put myriads of
members of myriads of societies across the globe in utter uncertainties. Socioeconomic disparity
is a sociological problem that should be analyzed primarily from a sociological perspective. This
is because; such consideration has the potential to provide the analyzer with theoretical
HEALTH INEQUITIES IN AUSTRALIA 3
frameworks that can help concerned authorities to mitigate the problems rendered by such
socioeconomic disparity. There are several sociological theories that have provided utter scopes
to sociologists in terms of understanding the reasons of socioeconomic inequalities that turn a
society into a divided and more discriminative one. Theories like conflict theory and theories of
functionalism can provide solutions to the problem if the models’ premises are applied
appropriately in the course of providing solution to the concerned problem. Then there is the
symbolic interactionist theory which can also be consulted in order to provide a different
perspective on the issue of socioeconomic disparities among different SES groups dwelling in
the Australian society. Moreover, it has been observed that, in the context of the Australian
society, “The magnitude of socioeconomic inequality in health varies substantially according to
the types of SES measure used and age” (Mather et al., 2014, p.436). It has been found that
among the most sensitive measures is measuring the income level (Mather et al., 2014, p.436),
and this indicates that economic disparities are the major problems that have given rise to
discriminations within the Australian society in terms of accessing the health care delivery
system in an equal manner by different SES groups. A report produced by the Australian
Government in terms of health care related inequalities and disparities states that,
“Socioeconomically disadvantaged groups experienced more ill health, and were more likely to
engage in behaviours or have a risk factor profile consistent with their poorer health status. Their
use of health care services suggested that they were less likely to act to prevent disease or detect
it at an asymptomatic stage” (Queensland University of Technology and the Australian Institute
of Health and Welfare, 2006). In Australia the socioeconomic inequalities in the context of
myriads of health-related indicators exist among both males and females in diversified groups
that had been considered economically backward (Queensland University of Technology and the
HEALTH INEQUITIES IN AUSTRALIA 4
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2006). And this is also a pointer to the fact that, in
Australia, owing to unequal distribution of wealth and due to presence of wage and other
economy-related gaps between different SES groups, disparity and discriminations in the sphere
of health care has become a convention. Furthermore, in the concerned report, health inequalities
by equivalised income showed that there indeed exists inequalities among higher income groups
and lower income groups in terms of gaining proper access to health care services (Queensland
University of Technology and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2006), and this
shows that economic factors play a greater role in the Australian society in respect of
determining which group is going to gain thorough access to health care and which group is not.
It can be pathetic to learn that the Australian society, in respect of health care inequalities, have
been gradually equating with the American society, which, till date, has suffered from such
disparities in a thorough manner.
Historical Factors
There have been...