What is the effect of socio-economic status on limited access to health care?Socio-economic status can limit the access to health care in several ways. Many Americans cannot afford health care even though it is easily accessible to the entire population. A person's social status, urban community, and financial history can all impact how access to health care is obtained. Although there are many factors that limit access to health care, I will examine how these particular factors play a role in access to health services. Why do low-income people tend to have high risk factors that lead to poor health outcomes? What are some of the factors that determine 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 health care choices and status based on their education, income, environment, and/or occupation level. How does social status limit access to health care? Social status is a combination of levels of education, income, and occupation (Alder and Newman 2002). This can affect health longevity depending on personal circumstances. As individuals, we tend to measure our sense of well-being based on those around us. In general, people with higher incomes and education levels have more control over their health choices. They are able to stay healthy because they are more likely to have health insurance, which allows them to easily access health care. However, low-income people struggle to maintain adequate health care. If everyone around you is going through similar situations, what will make you do the opposite? Having higher income and education levels determines better health care... middle of article......socioeconomic 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. and Newman, K. (2002). Socioeconomic disparities in health: pathways and policies. Health Affairs, 21(2), 60-76.4. Adler, NE and Ostrove, JM (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, BP, I. Kawachi, R. Glass, and D. Prothrow-Stith. (1998). Income distribution, socioeconomic status, and self-rated health in the United States: A multilevel analysis. Bmj, 317(7163), 917-921.6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK199247. http://www.nber.org/bah/spring04/w10365.html