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CONTACT: Russell Guerrero
Oct. 13, 2005
Anthropologist to Speak on Unhealthy State
of the Uninsured in Texas
SAN ANTONIO - Texas is one of the least healthy states in America, with a death rate significantly above the national average. The Lone Star State also has one of the highest number of residents without health insurance. Susan Sered, a senior research associate at Suffolk University's Center for Women's Health and Human Rights, will discuss the significant correlation between being uninsured and unhealthy in Texas and the high cost faced by both the uninsured and the state. The event will begin at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 8, in Trinity's Chapman Auditorium and is free and open to the public.
Dr. Sered is the co-author of the book Uninsured in America: Life and Death in the Land of Opportunity, which looks at what obstacles the 45 million uninsured Americans face when seeking basic medical services.
Her research in Texas included members of the San Antonio and Rio Grande Valley community. Dr. Sered found that dealing with a chaotic fragmentation of health care services, which causes patients to seek medical attention from several different sources, is the norm for the uninsured due to the lack of primary health care providers in the community health centers in Texas. In addition, Medicaid is not a consistent source of coverage for low-income families due to the stringent requirements for Medicaid eligibility in Texas. These families must rotate on and off of Medicaid, starting courses of treatment and then terminating them when the coverage ends.
Many families must also seek alternative sources including private doctors, migrant clinics, Mexican doctors at clinics across the border, and Mexican pharmacies. Medical records become scattered and there is no single doctor who knows patients and their medical history. The lack of a consistent medical history can turn into a serious problem for patients with chronic illnesses, such as diabetes - which strikes a high number of people in the state - and threaten their long-term health.
Dr. Sered previously directed the Religion, Health and Healing Initiative at Harvard University's Center for the Study of World Religions, and was an associate professor of anthropology at Bar Ilan University in Israel.
The lecture is sponsored by Trinity University's department of sociology and anthropology. For more information, contact Professor Meredith McGuire at (210) 999-8560.
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