How and Why the Language of Medicine Must Change

The United States has never achieved a single high standard of medical care equity for all of its people and the trend line does not appear favorable. The closest we have reached is basic Medicare (Parts A and B), military medicine, the Veterans Health Administration, and large nonprofit groups like Kaiser Permanente. It seems that the nature of we individualistic Americans is to always try to seek an advantage.

But even achieving equity in medical care would not ensure equity in health. The social determinants of health (income level, education, politics, government, geography, neighborhood, country of origin, language spoken, literacy, gender, and yes — race and ethnicity) have far more influence on health equity than does medical care

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Cite this: How and Why the Language of Medicine Must Change - Medscape - Mar 30, 2022.