Racial Equity and Health Policy

This report examines the circumstances and health needs of adults who report previous experiences with homelessness. Analysis of KFF’s Racism, Discrimination, and Health survey finds that people who have experienced homelessness have disproportionate health needs and face great socioeconomic challenges than those who have never experienced homelessness.

This report examines the ongoing challenges and experiences of people who have been previously incarcerated. Results from KFF’s Racism, Discrimination, and Health survey show that adults with prior incarceration have significant health needs, are socially isolated, and have limited access to health care.

This brief examines the potential impacts of Florida and Texas’ requirements for hospitals to collect patient immigration status information on immigrant families and the states’ workforces and economies.

In April 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released guidance encouraging states to apply for a new Section 1115 demonstration opportunity to test transition-related strategies to support community reentry for people who are incarcerated. As of August 19, 2024, CMS has approved Section 1115 reentry waiver requests from 11 states, while 13 additional reentry waivers remain pending.

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.

Disparities in health and health care for people of color and underserved groups are longstanding challenges. This brief provides an introduction to what health and health care disparities are, why it is important to address disparities, the status of disparities today, recent federal actions to address disparities, and key issues related to addressing disparities looking ahead.

The side-by-side comparison tool provides a quick overview of former President Trump’s and Vice President Harris’ records, positions, public statements, and proposed policies on a range of key health care topics.

Amid growing concerns about the mental health of children, about one in ten parents say their children are in fair or poor mental health. Rates of mental health treatment and access for children vary by factors such as race and ethnicity, as do experiences with unfair treatment or discrimination.

This data note analyzes health care expenditures for immigrants and U.S.-born people using data from the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey.

KFF analysis of data from the American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual Survey shows that the overall share of hospitals reporting hiring foreign-educated RNs has nearly doubled between 2010 and 2022, and a growing share of hospitals report hiring an increasing number of foreign-educated RNs to fill vacancies over time.