Racial Equity and Health Policy

A decade after U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher called for the elimination of racial disparities in health, women of color in every state continue to fare worse than white women on a variety of measures of health and health care access. The Foundation has created a package of resources, including…

This survey brief, based on the 2009 Survey of Americans on HIV/AIDS, examines African Americans’ reported views and experiences with HIV testing. The U.S. AIDS epidemic has disproportionately affected African Americans, who account for nearly half of new infections, while representing just 12 percent of the U.S. population. The brief…

This Kaiser Family Foundation report documents the persistence of disparities between white women and women of color across the country. It provides a rare and comprehensive state-level look at disparities among women of different races and ethnicities on a broad range of indicators of health and well-being, including rates of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, AIDS and cancer, and access to health insurance and health screenings.

This video provides a snapshot of the Arlington (Va.) Free Clinic where, four times a month, medical personnel provide care and screenings exclusively to women. The video explores the hurdles that uninsured women face in accessing health care and the social issues, including work and family responsibilities, that create challenges…

This analysis, based on data from the 2007 Health Tracking Household Survey, examines how health coverage and access to care for non-elderly adults vary based on immigrants’ length of time in the U.S. and between immigrants, second generation Americans and third generation and higher Americans. It also identifies the primary…

There is lots of apocalyptic talk these days about the collapse of the newspaper industry and the challenges facing news organizations.  There is even talk of the unimaginable, my hometown paper The Boston Globe shutting down. Surely they know that Red Sox Nation cannot exist without the Globe Sports pages.…

This updated fact sheet shows variations across states and racial and ethnic groups for six key health and health care indicators. It provides a quick glance at disparities in rates of infant mortality and diabetes-related mortality and AIDS cases in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well…

The Kaiser Family Foundation presents a series of live, interactive webcasts devoted to addressing a range of issues relating to health and health care disparities in the United States. Each discussion will feature a panel of experts tackling current issues in health disparities and answering questions from webcast viewers. 2011…

Transcript (.pdf) On Wednesday, March 25, the Kaiser Family Foundation held a live, interactive webcast to examine the economic downturn’s impact on health care in communities of color as part of its Today’s Topics In Health Disparities series. Rising unemployment has left many families uninsured and increasingly strained family finances…

The economic downturn has strained family finances and prompted some Americans to cut back on medications and forgo preventive care and visits to the doctor. At the same time, the downturn has triggered declines in tax revenue that inhibit states’ ability to meet rising Medicaid program costs as enrollment spikes…