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The COVID-19 pandemic has shined a spotlight on racial disparities in health and health care, but disparities are hardly new. They have been driven by longstanding inequities within and beyond the health care system that are rooted in racism.
KFF Vice President Samantha Artiga discusses how the medical system continues to use race in ways that may perpetuate disparities, including through provider and institutional bias, clinical guidelines, and medical education and training approaches.
Provisions in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) require states to maintain continuous Medicaid enrollment for enrollees until the end of the month when the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) ends. When the continuous enrollment requirements end and states resume redeterminations and disenrollments, individuals with LEP may be at increased risk of losing Medicaid coverage or experiencing a gap in coverage due to barriers completing these processes, even if they remain eligible for coverage.
This infographic looks at the persistent disparities in health and health care for Black people, which reflect structural and systematic inequities rooted in racism and discrimination. Although disparities in health coverage for Black people narrowed after passage of the Affordable Care Act, they continue to face higher rates of illness and death compared to White people.
Of the 19 million U.S. children under 5, half are children of color, making this group more diverse than the U.S. population overall. There is also significant variation across the country.
This brief provides an overview of recent data on cancer incidence and mortality, risk factors, screening, treatment, and outcomes by race and ethnicity. Racial disparities in cancer incidence and outcomes are well-documented, with research showing that they are driven by a combination of structural, economic, and socioenvironmental inequities that are rooted in racism and discrimination, as well as genetic and hereditary factors that may be influenced by the environment.
Section 1115 demonstration waivers provide states an avenue to test new approaches in Medicaid and generally reflect changing priorities from one presidential administration to another. This issue brief summarizes waiver priorities and actions under the Biden Administration as well as pending waiver themes and other issues to watch. If the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) fails to pass or is narrowed significantly, Medicaid waivers and other administrative actions may be a key tool for the Biden Administration to advance policy priorities absent legislation.
Jan. 27, 2022 — SAN FRANCISCO and SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — KFF is expanding its KHN (Kaiser Health News) operation by establishing a rural health reporting desk supported by a $3.9 million grant from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.
Hispanic, Asian, and Black people are more likely than White people to live in households with more than four people, where not everyone will receive a free COVID-19 test from the federal government.
As 2022 kicks off, a number of issues are at play that could affect coverage and financing under Medicaid. This issue brief examines key issues to watch in Medicaid in the year ahead.
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