The number of Korean Americans with health insurance turns out to be very low compared to other ethnic communities.
According to a report, Asian American Communities and Health: Context, Research, Policy and Action, between 2004 and 2006 the number of uninsured was 35.5 percent – two to three times higher than other ethnic communities: Vietnamese (18.3 percent); Japanese (9.1 percent); Indian (17.7 percent); Filipino (13.3 percent); and Chinese (15.8 percent).
The research was conducted and published by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Close to 40 health care experts in Asian-American communities contributed to the publication, which will be used as a textbook for New York University medical school.
The book provides an overview of the social, political, economic, and cultural forces that influence the distribution of disease and illness in Asian-American communities. It explains the diversity within the Asian community with respect to health seeking behavior and knowledge, socioeconomic status, educational level, cultural traditions, and specific health care needs and issues.
By examining the contextual factors that impact health, the book seeks to facilitate a meaningful dialogue and identify creative solutions for health disparities faced by ethnic minority communities.
In addition to the lower rate of health insurance registration, the book points out that the smoking rate of Korean American men is seriously high – compared to the average smoking rate for an Asian adult of 12 percent, the rate of Korean adult is reported at 22 percent. It is two times higher than other ethnic groups: Vietnamese (12 percent); Japanese (12 percent); and Chinese and Indian (7 percent).
Among the most common diseases affecting Korean-American men are lung cancer, with an incidence of 61.1 out of 100,000 people; followed by rectal cancer; prostate cancer; gastric cancer; and liver cancer.
Asian physicians in the United States make up 12 percent of overall physicians – 113,585 of 921,904, of these 3,831 or 7.1 percent are Korean. In 2004, the number of Korean Americans who entered medical schools was 821, or 10 percent of the overall Asian-American medical students.
