The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
KFF’s policy research provides facts and analysis on a wide range of policy issues and public programs.
KFF designs, conducts and analyzes original public opinion and survey research on Americans’ attitudes, knowledge, and experiences with the health care system to help amplify the public’s voice in major national debates.
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the organization’s core operating programs.
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.
This analysis examines disparities in access to air condition and their implications. It shows Asian-, Black-, and Hispanic-led households are more likely to report not having an air conditioning unit in their home compared to White households. Lower income households also are more likely than higher-income households to report this and other challenges.
This data note reviews data currently available at the federal and state level on race/ethnicity of booster shot recipients of COVID-19 vaccines.
COVID-19 has disproportionately negatively affected the physical and mental health, academic growth, and economic security of children of color. At the same time, the limited data available to date suggest some children of color may be less likely to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, leaving them at elevated risk as the virus continues to spread and as many return to in-person school.
As the COVID-19 pandemic’s focus shifts from urban to rural areas, and more people resume public activities, a new KFF analysis of case and death data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals narrower disparities affecting Black and Hispanic people compared to White people now than earlier in the pandemic.
Exposure to lead can seriously harm a child’s health, including damage to the brain and nervous system, slowed growth and development, learning and behavior problems, and hearing and speech problems. The effects of lead on the nervous system can cause lower IQ, decreased ability to pay attention, and under performance in school.
While climate change poses health threats for everyone, people of color, low-income people, and other marginalized or high-need groups face disproportionate risks due to underlying inequities and structural racism and discrimination.
While climate change effects ripple across the world and all populations, it is poised to disproportionately affect people of color, low-income communities, immigrants, and other high-need groups.
In this data note, we use 2019 American Community Survey (ACS) data to examine how demographic characteristics as well as measures of health coverage and other social and economic factors that drive health and health care vary for Asian and NHOPI people overall and by subgroups.
© 2026 KFF