What is the effect of socioeconomic status on limited access to healthcare? Socioeconomic status can limit access to health care in many ways. Many Americans do not have the means to receive healthcare, although it is easily accessible to the entire population. A person's social status, urban community and financial background can all impact how they access healthcare. While there are many factors that limit access to healthcare, I will discuss how these particular factors play a role in accessing healthcare services. Why do low-income individuals tend to have elevated risk factors that result in poor health outcomes? What are some of the factors that lead to better health outcomes? These are some of the questions that arise when trying to understand the influence of health outcomes. An individual's socioeconomic status can alter their healthcare choices and status based on education, income, surrounding environment, and/or employment levels. How does the welfare state limit access to healthcare? Social status is a combination of levels of education, income, and employment (Alder & Newman 2002). It can influence health longevity based on personal circumstances. As individuals, we tend to measure our sense of well-being in terms of those around us. In general, people with higher incomes and education levels have more control over their health care choices. They are able to stay healthy because they are more likely to have health insurance, so healthcare is easily accessible to them. However, low-income individuals have difficulty maintaining adequate healthcare. If everyone around you is experiencing similar circumstances, what will make you do the opposite? Having a higher income and education level leads to better health care... half of the paper... cyoeconomic status in health disparities research. Journal of the National Medical Association, 99(9), 10132. Fiscella, K., & Williams, D. R. (2004). Health disparities based on socioeconomic inequalities: Implications for urban health care. Academic Medicine, 79(12), 1139-1147.3. Adler, N. E., & Newman, K. (2002). Socioeconomic disparities in healthcare: paths and policies. Health Affairs, 21(2), 60-76.4. Adler, N. E., & Ostrove, J. M. (1999). Socioeconomic status and health: What we know and what we don't know. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 896(1), 3-15.5. Kennedy, B. P., Kawachi, I., Glass, R., & Prothrow-Stith, D. (1998). Income distribution, socioeconomic status, and self-rated health in the United States: Multilevel analysis. Bmj, 317(7163), 917-921.6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK199247. http://www.nber.org/bah/spring04/w10365.html