Health Services for Special Populations
Jimmesha Atmore
Polk State College

Abstract
There are population groups that experience greater barriers in access to care, financing of care, and racial or cultural acceptance. In this paper, these population groups are defined, their health needs are described, and their major challenges are summarized. Keywords: access, care, groups, health, patients, populations

Health Services for Special Populations Certain population clusters in the U.S face bigger challenges than the general population in acquiring apt and necessary health care amenities. These groups of the population are made up of racial and ethnic minorities, uninsured children, women, those living in rural areas, the homeless, the mentally ill and disabled, and those with HIV/AIDS (Shi & Singh 2012). When it comes to racial and ethnic minorities, they have had their share of struggles for the longest. Substantial differences occur across these various groups on health-related lifestyles and health status. Things like prenatal care, live birth aspects, smoking and drinking differ greatly throughout these groups.
Ethnic minorities are more likely to not have health insurance than Whites. Lack of insurance coverage is also more predominant in the South and West United States, among individuals who lack a high school diploma and the unemployed (Shi & Singh 2012). Uninsured people tend to be poor, less educated, have part-time jobs, and are young because most elderly people have access to Medicare. Decreased use of lower cost preventative services can ultimately result in an increased need for more expensive emergency health care. Discounted and even free medical services used to be common for certain health facilities to the uninsured, but managed care practices have greatly reduced the ability of this social safety net.
When children have