An Examination of Health Disparities in Louisiana Parishes Resulting from Clinic Closures and Policy Consolidation

Abstract

It has been observed in the healthcare and public policy literature that the healthcare market seems to be failing despite the tremendous efforts by policymakers, lawmakers, and different political leaders. In relation to the existing public health data, it is further observed in the literature that the current health care reforms, public health clinics closures and policy consolidations following the implementation of the affordable care act appear to be disappointing in the state of Louisiana—in relation to the high spread of STDs, breast-cancer, and low preventive screening participation across the parishes in Louisiana. As a result, this current study has utilized secondary data source to examine the health disparities in Louisiana state parishes resulting from the public health clinic closure and consolidation policies on all the preventative practices by utilizing data from Louisiana Department of Health. As part of the study design, the researcher utilizes descriptive design, bar chart and pie-chart to analyze the health disparities data following the clinic closures. The study suggested that the federal governments, state governors and local governments should reconsider the reopening of all the closures of the public health clinics in order to ensure a greater access to healthcare and healthy population among the Louisiana residents among the different parishes.

Keywords: Health, Clinic, Parishes, Policy, Healthcare, Screening, and STDs.

DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/103-07

Publication date: November 30^th 2020