DES MOINES | Isaiah Newsome likes to play sports and hang out with friends like any 17-year-old. But most of the time those activities are cut short as his body, stricken with sickle cell anemia since birth, fills with pain.

It just randomly happens, said Newsome, of Des Moines. Theres no really preventing it or seeing it coming.

Getting insurance to cover his health care has never been easy, but at least he has had insurance the past year. Many low-income African-American families in Iowa do not.

A University of Iowa Public Policy Center study in December 2013 found African-American and Latino Iowans do not have the same access to health care as Asian and white Iowans. The report, which used data from a survey conducted in fall 2010 and spring 2011, also found African-Americans and Latinos are more likely to need medical care.

The disparities are a result of many factors, including a lower quality of care in general; higher-than-normal unmet need for care; poor diets; a higher likelihood to seek care from a hospital emergency room; and fewer safe and supportive neighborhoods.

Social aspects including poverty level, neighborhood, culture or race, account for 90 percent of what affects health status, the studys authors concluded.

The causes of health disparity vary, but we need to look beyond health care, said Dr. Peter Damiano, director of Iowa Public Policy Center and also its health policy research program. Iowa needs to be looking at behavior, genetics and environment.

Newsomes mother, Charice Williams, did not have health insurance for herself or her children until she signed up under the Affordable Care Act in 2013.

Even though I am low income, I am still over income for things. Everything goes by your gross income instead of what you really bring home as your net pay, said Williams, who works part-time for the city of Des Moines so that she can spend time caring for her son.

The study focused on the several factors that create a disparity in care, including overall health status, insurance coverage, need and access to care, lifestyle and family and social environment.

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Iowa minority access to health care tough