Exploiting the poor so you can get more...drugs

This week we continued to discuss race and science. The article by Diana Axelsen first got me thinking about to what extent minority groups are at a disadvantage in the world of medicine. In the beginning of her “Women as victims of medical experimentation” article, she makes references to several examples in history where the health of black women has been negatively affected, including the time during the Reagan administration. Out of curiosity, I took the time to research the Reagan administration and what types of program funding was cut that would affect healthcare. In the search I found information, not about African American women specifically, but rather the poor. One website quoting federal funding cuts said that “It can be readily seen
that while deep cuts are planned for programs designed for the poor and near poor-such
as AFDC, Food Stamps, Medicaid, education aid, Low-Income Energy Assistance, and training and employment programs, there will be almost no change in the level of spending in most of the programs that benefit the middle class.” The article then goes on to confirm Axelsen’s stance by making the connection between the poor and African Americans being affected the most.
Soon after this article, we read another concerning the “Natural laboratories: medical experimentation in native communities.” In this article by Andrea Smith, the topic of minority groups being targeted for medical experimentation in numerous fields including optometry, dental and vaccinations arose again. Here Smith argues that minority groups, like Native Americans, cannot afford any alternative healthcare other than that offered by the experimental groups or through Medicaid. In the end of the article, she quotes an IHS administrator, who states that “once drugs are proven ‘safe,’ they are generally no longer available for Indian Health Services.”
This makes me overall very upset seeing as not many people can argue with free healthcare, but as it is only free because the general public will not use the medicine seeing as it is not certified, they are instead exploiting the poor. Even when the poor do benefit from these experimentations and receive medication that will be proven safe, by chance, the medicine is scooped up by one monopoly or another and is never to be seen again among this population. I wonder what can be done to prevent this kind of practice in the future and who will serve as the test subjects necessary to “certify” drugs if we are ever to stop the practice of exploitation that is in place now.