Medicare: A system intended to break minority injustcies but ultimately created new ones.

Medicare was created in 1965 and has a lot of benefits for people over the age of 65 who qualify for it. However, it is a complicated process to determine how Medicare coverage works, and to determine what programs you need and can personally afford. Medicare has continued to add on new developments into the program to help combat the inequalities within its system, one of these new developments is Part C, or Medicare Advantage. This program involves enrollees signing up through private health plans (insurers) who contract with Medicare, however, the insurers get to determine what areas they offer this program. Typically they aim to offer this in higher income areas, as lower income areas are much riskier and may result in lower payout from Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services (CMS). Therefore many individuals in lower-income areas, who tend to be of poorer health are not even given the opportunity to utilize this new program. Although Medicare's goal is to help combat inequalities it is still functioning in a flawed system, and it's clear that it those who are of good health with high incomes tend to reap the most benefits from the program. Overall the topic of Medicare is not always related to injustices when first looking into it, as the goal of the program is quite the opposite, however, there are still injustices throughout it, and any new addition they may tackle to the program in hopes to advance equity.
I chose to do an infographic because the details in Medicare get confusing, and are often not something people are not interested in learning about until it affects them or someone they know. The use of infographics catches people's attention and their more likely to at least glance at it and be aware of the current issue when compared to a journal or article about the same topic. The use of an infographic also allowed me to input some data to really show how unjust the system is. The use of numbers or graphs allows people to visualize the inequality and
instinctually place themselves in those numbers, which is something we need to do In regard to care for elders. Typically you don't start thinking about     Medicare until you are able to enroll, which allows these injustices to truly only be seen by a certain demographic. The most useful tool to help fight this system is awareness, the more people who actually know about the current injustices the more likely action will be taken.
My infographic aims to inform the people who have never been aware of the intricacies within the system that claims to be implemented for the minority groups that were once witnessing injustices in health care but in actuality have created their own specific injustices regarding coverage of that care. When lower-income individuals with poor health are faced with either spending all their life's wealth on health care or simply suffering by not receiving any care there is clearly something wrong with the system in place.

Works Cited

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Nancy Ochieng, Juliette Cubanski, et al. "Racial and Ethnic Health Inequities and Medicare." KFF, 16 Feb. 2021, www.kff.org/medicare/report/racial-and-ethnic-health-inequities-and-medicare/.

Tachibana, Chris. "Why Are There Disparities in Enrollment in Ma?" Penn LDI, 19 Dec. 2022, ldi.upenn.edu/our-work/research-updates/why-are-there-disparities-in-enrollment-in-medicare-advantage/.

Weil, Alan R. "Medicare, Affordability, And More: Editor-In-Chief Alan Weil Highlights Articles in the September Issue of Health Affairs." Health Affairs, vol. 42, no. 9, 2023, pp. 1189–1189, https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2023.01068.

Yearby, Ruqaiijah, et al. "Structural Racism In Historical And Modern US Health Care Policy: Study Examines Structural Racism in Historical and Modern US Health Care Policy." Health Affairs, vol. 41, no. 2, 2022, pp. 187–94, https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2021.01466.