Health Action 2012: A Spotlight on Health Disparities

Steph already told you about some of the informational and inspiring speeches at this year’s Health Action conference sponsored by Families USA. I was thrilled to spend 3 days with so many enthusiastic and hardworking health care activists, but I was particularly happy I made it to Friday morning’s panel on health disparities. The panel was informative and engaging, but also quite alarming. It was there that I learned that the direct and indirect costs of health disparities in the U.S. come to $1.24 trillion over 3 years.

Census data shows that there are striking racial disparities in women’s access to health coverage. Hispanic women are uninsured at a rate nearly 3 times higher than white women while Black and American Indian women are uninsured at a rate nearly twice that of White women. Our women’s health report card shows more alarming disparities in women’s health status. Black women in the US are significantly more likely to die from stroke and heart disease than white women and the AIDS rate among black women is over 22 times higher than for White women. Additionally, Hispanic women suffer from diabetes and high blood pressure more often than White women.

The Affordable Care Act makes great strides towards reducing these health disparities. In addition to making affordable health coverage more accessible to millions of Americans, it takes specific steps towards addressing health disparities such as strengthening the Federal Office of Minority Health, improving data collection of populations that experience disparities, increasing provider diversity, promoting cultural competency training, and reducing barriers to care faced by Americans with disabilities and limited English proficiency.

But one thing the panel reminded me was that if we truly want to end health disparities, we also have to focus on the many other disparities in this country that impact a person’s health and well-being, such as income inequality, and disparities in the classroom and work force. (That is why I’m so grateful for my colleagues across the hall here at the National Women’s Law Center who draw attention to issues such as the employment crisis for black women and the high dropout rate among Latina high school students.)

We have a long way to go in eliminating health disparities in the United States, but I know I am going to start by working with my colleagues to fight back against efforts to repeal and defund the new health care law. How will you start making a difference?