Healthcare Disparities – Human Nature or System Malfunction? Ariel Braverman American Public University Ariel.Braverman@mycampus.apus.edu Introduction: "Discussion about healthcare disparities and the future of healthcare appear and disappear in mass media all the time and tend to re-surface around election campaigns. However, behind populistic speeches from all sides, there are not many feasible solutions. To discuss the term "healthcare disparities," first, we need to understand the word "disparity" in its broad meaning. Cambridge Dictionary defines disparity as "…a lack of equality or similarity, especially in a way that is not fair...” However, the definition above is "tricky" and cannot be applied in formal legislation because of the word "fair." Fairness can be based on many variables, so it must be narrowed down to something feasible on a governmental level. So let us talk about "equality." If we will skip over lunatic racist theories (I do not think that I want to spend this short article on in-depth analysis of KKK or Nazi "theories|"), any sane person understands that all people are equal and deserve to be healthy in the same way. However, disparities still exist. So, from where it comes? Physiology and genetics: Having said that all people are the same; we must remember that there are physiological and genetic differences between groups (on racial and ethnic level), and attempt to create universal similarity may create an opposite effect – increased mortality and morbidity. CDC data clearly shows racial/ethnical differences in morbidity and mortality among different health conditions 1 ,so some ethnical groups must be more monitored and treated differently, but is it, actually, create disparity? So, in my opinion, there is a need to adjust our definition from healthcare disparities to general health disparities because some groups require extra care, and equality may work against them. Financial Issues: It is well known that modern, advanced, and high-quality healthcare is an expensive matter. Modern healthcare demands highly skilled personnel (which demand many years of study and personal investments that expected to be "repaid" during practice), expensive equipment, and facilities 4 . Scientific research in medicine is one of the most evolving fields of modern science, and a tremendous amount of money invested in it, and these funds create very