Six-hour delays in the emergency room. An alarmingly high rate of amputations among African-Americans. Medical assessments based upon appearances and presumptions. </p><p>Those were some of the experiences related by a panel of health experts who weighed in on the state of health care at the National Association of Black Journalists convention last week in Tampa, Fla. The panel concluded that health care disparities plague the minority community.</p><p>Several factors contribute to diseases being underdiagnosed and undertreated among minority groups. Those include cultural barriers, low rates of health insurance and limited access to culturally relevant care. </p><p>Willarda Edwards, president of the National Medical Association, told the audience that health care for everyone is vitally important. </p><p>&ldquo;But the whole system needs to be reformed,&rdquo; Edwards said. &ldquo;We need to make sure that in this legislation, there is also some real teeth with respect to preventive care and wellness. We need to get back to the emphasis of exercise. We need to get back to school-based clinics, where you can get immunizations.&rdquo;</p><p>Gary Puckrein, president and chief executive officer of the National Minority Quality Forum, said 7.5 million people in America with diabetes are on Medicare. For 50 percent of those, Medicare pays about $1,700 a year for treatment. </p><p>&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t treat diabetes on $1,700 a year,&rdquo; Puckrein said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s impossible. We&rsquo;re not providing the necessary services. And there&rsquo;s no attempt to fix that.&rdquo;</p><p>Robert Wooten is a physician assistant who works in emergency medicine at Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. Only 30 percent of the patients he sees in the emergency room are there because of an emergency. Last year, his emergency room saw 101,000 patients. This year, it will probably see 105,000 patients. </p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to walk out of there without a bill of $1,000 to $2,000,&rdquo; Wooten said. &ldquo;The problem is, we&rsquo;re providing episodic care for people who should be getting this kind of care from their primary physician. We see a lot of underinsured. We&rsquo;re seeing people who have insurance, but certainly not the right insurance.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re providing diabetic care when they should be getting this care through a facility where they can get the appropriate medicine and all the counseling, education and nutritional information from a primary care provider.&rdquo; </p><p>Too often, the debate over health care reform focuses on cost, not better treatment. Health care reform should be an attempt to level the playing field for minorities, who too frequently die of diseases that are preventable.