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by nramanand 1350 days ago
The rate of maternal deaths in the US far outpaces that for other industrial countries. [0]

Likely related to a racial divide in healthcare infrastructure?

[0] https://tcf.org/content/commentary/worsening-u-s-maternal-he...

2 comments

The racial disparities cut across class. The most famous example being the complications that Serena Williams experienced during delivery https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/1/11/16879984/serena-wil.... The impact of lives lost and diminished by racialized access to and administration of health care is immense https://ballardbrief.byu.edu/issue-briefs/maternal-mortality...

Besides looking at other industrialized countries, it also insightful to look at the health outcomes of the us against other Caribbean and African states, particularly in the places where most of the Black women in the us live. In 2019, the reported maternal mortality rate (MMR) for Black women in the US state of Georgia was 66 / 100,000.

Barbados MMR of 12.6 / 100,000. Bahamas, MMR of 22.4 / 100,000. Zimbabwe, MMR of 53.9 / 100,000. Botswana, MMR of 45.9 / 100,000 (the MMR of white women in Georgia) Jamaica, MMR of 13.7 / 100,000. Cuba, MMR of 5.1 / 100,000

https://data.unicef.org/country

Thanks for that Vox link:

“Of note, black mothers who are college-educated fare worse than women of all other races who never finished high school. Obese women of all races do better than black women who are of normal weight. And black women in the wealthiest neighborhoods do worse than white, Hispanic and Asian mothers in the poorest ones.”

It’s hard to separate that from the US’s nasty combo of outlier poverty + healthcare that’s non-free at the point of service. Doesn’t bode well for populations disproportionately in and near poverty…

But (to be fair and balanced) one pro of the US’s system that other countries don’t have is that black and white people (and all other races) are allowed to use their HSAs as a tax shelter for their investments.

Eh, I think one could say HSAs are also a symptom of these disproportionate effects.

What populations are getting the jobs that provide an HSA? What population has money left over to put into an HSA?

etc., etc.

Ya I was just making a little joke about the US's right-wing solutions for distributing healthcare, and "equality of opportunity" arguments people make.

IRL some of the poorest people I know have been screwed over by attempting to use similar programs.

Myself, I really don't want to have to fucking rebalance my healthcare portfolio. As opposed to, y'know, just walking in the building, getting my healthcare, walking out, and squaring up at tax time on a progressive curve.

Haha OK I was almost sure this was sarcasm
How is race relevant to HSA accounts?