Uninsured and Underserved: The Health Care Experiences of Latinos in the Nation's Capital

Provides a summary of Latino experiences and opinions regarding access to health care in the District of Columbia, and contrasts their experiences with those of Latinos nationally

Policy Challenges and Opportunities in Closing the Racial/Ethnic Divide in Health Care

Explores challenges and opportunities in addressing racial and ethnic disparities in health care, including raising public and provider awareness; improving healthcare quality and insurance coverage; and providing access in underserved communities

Putting Women's Health Care Disparities on the Map: Examining Racial and Ethnic Disparities at the State Level

Assesses the racial/ethnic disparities in women's health status, access to and utilization of health care, and social factors such as poverty and gender wage gap by state. Examines how healthcare payment and worker shortages affect access to care

Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Access to Care among Children: How Does Medicaid Do in Closing the Gaps?

While Medicaid and the Children\u27s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) have become increasingly important sources of health coverage for low-income children in all racial and ethnic groups, the program plays an especially large role for children of color, who are more likely than white children to be low-income. In 2007, Medicaid and CHIP covered nearly one in five white children, but roughly two in five African American and Hispanic children. As policymakers engaged in health reform consider the merits of public and private approaches to expanding coverage, this report provides an assessment of Medicaid\u27s relative impact on racial and ethnic disparities in access. The analysis compared health care access for white, African American and Hispanic children who were privately insured, uninsured, or enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP. Key findings include: Racial and ethnic disparities in access to care were no more likely among children enrolled in Medicaid than among privately insured children. Insurance coverage – both private and Medicaid – often improved access for children in each racial and ethnic group, but generally did not significantly narrow racial and ethnic disparities in their access to health care. This report analyzes data for more than 15,000 children from the 2003 and 2004 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, a nationally representative household survey conducted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Addressing Disparities in Health and Health Care: Issues for Reform

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee on Health, thank you for the opportunity to testify on the issue of racial disparities in health and health care. I am Marsha Lillie-Blanton, Senior Advisor on Race, Ethnicity, and Health Care at the Kaiser Family Foundation, and also an Associate Research Professor in the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. Today, 1 in 3 Americans self-identify as either Hispanic/Latino, African American/Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian American, or Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. By 2050, half of the U.S. population will be a person of color (Figure 1). This demographic shift in the population suggests that there are economic as well as health consequences of our failure to eliminate longstanding disparities in health status and in access to health care

Race/ethnicity, the social environment, and health

International and national research has documented the relations between socio-economic conditions and health. Nonetheless, racial/ethnic group comparisons of health indices frequently are presented in the United States without stratifying or adjusting for socio-economic conditions that could affect interpretation of the data. This paper examines how racial/ethnic group identifiers have been used in past research. While some studies assume biologic differences; others presume that race/ethnicity is a proxy for socio-economic risk factors. One consequence of these presumptions has been an underdevelopment of knowledge about racial/ethnic minority populations that could help shape public policies and preventive interventions to reduce disparities in health. Findings from studies that examine the influence of both race and social class on health are reviewed in an effort to clarify the state-of-knowledge. Although the findings vary for particular health indices, the studies provide considerable evidence that socio-economic conditions are a powerful, although not necessarily exclusive, explanatory variable for racial disparities in health. The findings are used as the basis for encouraging more theoretically grounded and methodologically rigorous research rather than avoiding an assessment of the influence of race/ethnicity on health.race/ethnicity social environment minority health neighborhood condition

Key Health Disparities-Focused Legislation Introduced in the 110th Congress

Although the 110th Congress is only about half-way through, the number of bills introduced that include some attention to “health disparities” is about the same as introduced in the entire 109th Congress. This compendium summarizes federal legislative efforts introduced in the 110th Congress that focus on addressing racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care. A search of the Library of Congress’ legislative database identified 177 bills introduced thus far in the 110th Congress that met our search criteria. While a number of bills introduced this year may have an impact on health disparities and/or affect minority health, the goal of this document is to highlight legislation that specifically addresses racial and ethnic health disparities. About a dozen such bills have been introduced in the 110th Congress, including the Minority Health Improvement and Health Disparity Elimination Act and the Office of Men’s Health Act of 2007. Many others, such as the Lupus Research, Education, Awareness, Communication, and Healthcare Amendments of 2007 include provisions to address minority populations, but do not specifically focus on disparities. For this reason, this compendium does not discuss them. Several bills introduced in the 110th Congress focus on expanding health insurance coverage to the uninsured, across racial and ethnic groups. Though not included in this compendium, legislation that would improve access to health coverage for minority groups, such as the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007, the Children’s Dental Health Improvement Act, and the United States National Insurance Act, are of critical importance as more than half of the 47 million uninsured Americans are people of color