Report after report continues to prove that non-whites in America receive less care, and worse care, than white people.  Even when you adjust for income levels and health insurance.  This is appalling, but true, and it's hardly new - Congress officially acknowledged the problem in 1999, although obviously it existed a long time before that.  (Maybe forever?)

For those like Rush Limbaugh who feel that everyone else can suck it, health care wise, a recent study showed that "race-related differences in health care cost the country $229 billion between 2003 and 2006."  In other words, even if you want to take the most selfish possible view, this is still a serious problem, because it's costing you money.  When Newsweek says "the country" they mean "our taxes," and you would think that the conservative Right would be jumping all over that action.

The biggest problem is that we still don't know what is causing this racial disparity in health care.  It is pervasive - at pretty much every stage of life, and for pretty much every kind of health care issue you can think of, non-whites are doing more poorly than whites.  But the causation is unknown, and most likely a complicated mixture of social factors.  

Genetics, except for a few select issues like Tay-Sachs disease, are unlikely to be a major component simply because the genetic background of an entire race of people is too varied to be statistically meaningful.  To pick two random examples, Barack Obama (mother: white, father: from Kenya) and American author Edwidge Danticat (both parents Haitian) are both considered "black," but they share as much in common with each other genetically as they would with, say, George W. Bush.

Unfortunately, this is an issue with no clear answer, and no clear solution.  Class is certainly one component, and anyone who says that America doesn't have a class system is either lying or completely ignorant.  For example, the Newsweek article mentions a study which tracked diabetes outcomes for a poor neighborhood in Baltimore which was evenly mixed between white and black people, and found that their outcomes were the same regardless of race.  

Environmental health issues also play a part.  There is a shocking and deeply disturbing overlap between "zones of environmental contamination" and "minority neighborhoods."  Ground which has been contaminated by industrial pollution is less desirable property, and is often ceded to minorities by default due to lower property values.  And polluting companies often seek out minority and poorer neighborhoods, knowing that these communities are less likely to kick up a NIMBY fuss compared to middle-and upper-class neighborhoods.

But the attitude of health care providers has also been shown to have a serious impact on health issues with non-white patients.  A wide ranging study in the Southeast showed vast disparities in the care given to black versus white, and male versus female patients who were admitted for chest pain.  Women and black people were significantly less likely to receive cardiovascular medication than men and white people.  In another study, black women diagnosed with ovarian cancer were 15% less likely to receive chemotherapy in addition to surgery.