Researcher Reveals How Black People Suffer The Full Brunt Of Breast Cancer

The ASC executive told BIN that the disparity in healthcare access plays a role in these staggering statistics. This includes interventions, mammograms, screenings, and other services. Even then, it doesn’t stop there since there are other barriers to adequate health care, such as location, transportation, paid sick leave, income, availability of specialized doctors and centers, and other obstacles, according to Dr. Jemal.

Another obstacle for Black Americans is finding medical professionals who look like them. According to their 2021 Physician Specialty Data Report, 525 out of 15,012 oncologists, doctors specializing in cancer, identified as Black. That’s 3.5% of all U.S. oncologists active in the country.

“We know that Black people are more comfortable with their own, with a provider of their own race,” Dr. Jemal pointed out. “The barrier is really the availability of doctors in the Black community neighborhood.”

Despite these issues, Dr. Jemal said two critical public health policy changes significantly improved breast cancer mortality rates over the last decade: The Affordable Care Act and the expansion of Medicare to low-income families were game-changers in helping Black communities struggling to afford healthcare. Before President Barack Obama signed the ACA into law in 2010, Dr. Jemal revealed that 20% of Black people were uninsured.

A 2022 report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed the amount of uninsured Black Americans under age 65 dipped from 20% (7.1 million people) in 2011 to 12% (4.4 million) in 2019, a 40% decline. Dr. Jemal added that’s compared to the 5 to 6% of uninsured white people after the ACA became law.

Dr. Jemal noted that things would improve drastically if certain states with large Black populations expanded Medicare to low-income Americans.

“There are about 11 states that haven’t yet expanded Medicaid. Those states… which is Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, [and] Kansas, where you have a high proportion of [the] Black population,” he told BIN. “So if you include Texas, Florida, Georgia — they almost represent such 7% of the uninsured Black population in those states.”

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