Is racism the cause of disparities in health care? In recent discussions about health care disparities, a controversial issue has been whether or not racism is the cause of health care disparities. On the one hand, some argue that racism is a serious problem in the healthcare system. From this perspective, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) states that there is a large gap between the quality of health care received by minorities and the quality of health care received by non-minorities, and the reason is due to racism. On the other hand, however, others argue that health disparities are not due to racism. In the words of Sally Satel, a leading proponent of this view, "black and white patients, on average, don't even see the same population of doctors" (Satel 1), so this reduces the chances that racism is the cause of Health. welfare disparities. According to this view, racism is not a serious problem in the healthcare system. In summary, then, the question is whether racism is a major cause of health disparities as the Institute of Medicine claims or whether racism is not really a problem in the health care system as suggested by Sally Satel. According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), racism is a problem in the healthcare system, meaning the difference between the quality of healthcare received by minorities and non-minorities is due to racism. The IOM is a nonprofit organization that advises the federal government and the public on science policy. It released a report that found, on average, minorities receive lower quality care, even when factors such as income and type of health insurance are taken into account. The IOM report states that racial stereotypes and prejudices are the cause of health disparities. The IOM article points out... halfway through the document... that Satel needs to do more research. For example, in his article, he states that primary care physicians who lack certification and face barriers to accessing specialty services are more likely to practice in areas where blacks receive their care, i.e., the most vulnerable neighborhoods. poor, measured by average income, but does not support this with research. While some may argue that healthcare is color blind and that doctors do their best to administer healthcare in a proportionate manner, I would respond that racism plays a role in healthcare disparities. Racism has always been a problem and it is not possible to deny this fact. This issue is important because the health care disparity gap is large and something needs to be done about it. As the IOM said, people need to be aware of what is happening so they can take appropriate measures to close the gap.