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KFF has updated its national analysis of race/ethnicity data of COVID-19 cases and deaths, vaccinations, and treatments as concerns grow over a potential increase in COVID-19 cases during winter and upcoming holiday gatherings and the low take-up of the COVID-19 bivalent booster vaccine among the eligible public.
Community Health Workers (CHWs) are frontline workers who have close relationships with the communities they serve, allowing them to better liaise and connect community members to health care systems. States may authorize Medicaid payment for certain CHW services under state plan or Section 1115 demonstration authority. States may allow or require managed care organizations (MCOs) to provide CHW services or include CHWs in care teams. Many states use CHW services to address the health needs of targeted populations including enrollees with chronic conditions or complex behavioral or physical health needs, enrollees receiving targeted case management services, or frequent users of health care services
Increasing availability of high-quality comprehensive data disaggregated by race/ethnicity is a prerequisite for efforts to advance health equity, not only related to COVID-19 but in health and health care more broadly.
With the COVID-19 pandemic impacting communities of color disproportionately in their health and economic well-being, long-term racial and ethnic disparities have received growing attention. But these inequities in our health system are not new and are a part of larger issues of systemic racism.
AIAN individuals experience significant health disparities compared to their White counterparts. People who identified as AIAN alone have shorter life expectancies (70.1 vs 78.4 years at birth), higher rates of chronic diseases, and higher rates of suicide deaths and substance use disorder.
This issue brief provides an overview of Executive Order (EO) 14224 designating English as the official language of the United States and its potential implications for multilingual resources, including data on the shares of individuals with LEP across different socioeconomic characteristics based on KFF analysis of 2023 American Community Survey (ACS) data.
This report examines the role of both Medicare and the Indian Health Service (IHS) in providing access to health care for about 650,000 American Indians and Alaska Natives who are age 65 and older or who have permanent disabilities. While Medicare provides important health care coverage for most in this group, its relatively high cost-sharing and gaps in benefits can be problematic for American Indians and Alaska Native Medicare beneficiaries who do not have additional supplemental coverage or who cannot access IHS providers.
While the exact reasons for the recent declines in early prenatal care use are not known, disparities in maternal and infant health reflect underlying inequities in insurance coverage, access to care, and social and economic factors.
AIAN people face disproportionate risks from the COVID-19 outbreak given significant underlying disparities in health, social, and economic factors. Addressing their needs as part of COVID-19 response efforts will be key for preventing further widening of these disparities.
This data note reviews data currently available at the federal and state level on race/ethnicity of booster shot recipients of COVID-19 vaccines.
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