Racial Equity and Health Policy

The February Kaiser Health Tracking Poll focuses on some of the health policy implications of this winter’s national debate over gun violence, gun control and the adequacy of the nation’s response to the needs of those living with serious mental illness. The survey finds that one in five Americans have some connection to a victim of gun violence, a share that doubles to 42 percent among blacks.

President Obama’s visit to New Orleans on August 29, five years after Hurricane Katrina and the levee failures nearly destroyed the city, presented an opportunity for him to deliver a message on behalf of us all: The country still cares. It was a timely message. Seven-in-ten residents of New Orleans…

The current health reform debate in this country focuses heavily on providing access to affordable health coverage for the millions of people who are uninsured. Any effort to expand coverage, alter current public programs, and/or create new public programs will have important consequences for the health of communities of color,…

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.…

 Download PDF Racial and ethnic disparities in health care – whether in insurance coverage, access, or quality of care – are one of many factors producing inequalities in health status in the United States.1  Eliminating these disparities is politically sensitive and challenging in part because their causes are intertwined with…

The first National Healthcare Disparities Report was issued by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in 2003. Now, three years later, the Kaiser Family Foundation hosts a forum to discuss what has been learned following the release of AHRQ’s latest progress report on disparities, and how that information can…

Webcast: High Speed Low Speed Transcript The Kaiser Family Foundation and The Washington Post on July 18 hosted a forum in the Foundation’s Barbara Jordan Conference Center featuring Bill Cosby and a panel of national leaders examining the experiences of young black men in America. The forum, Paths to Success:…

In a few short weeks, Medicare will undergo big changes that will have a major impact on nearly 4 million African American seniors and younger people with permanent disabilities who rely on Medicare for their health coverage. More than four in ten African Americans with Medicare lack coverage for their…

Three reports examining how health issues are handled by the Latino-oriented media today and how Latinos use the media as an information source on health issues. The three new studies were released at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) conference. The studies are also available separately: A National and…