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Racial Equity and Health Policy

Immigrants

States Have Enacted or Proposed a Range of Legislation That Will Affect Immigrants’ Access to State-Funded Health Coverage

This policy watch summarizes recent proposed actions by states related to state-funded health coverage for immigrants and trends in other legislation enacted during the 2025 session that have implications for immigrants.

Related: Key Facts on Health Coverage of Immigrants

5 Key Facts About Immigrants and Medicaid

Role of Immigrants in the Hospital Workforce

Policy Bars Many Immigrants from a Broad Range of Federal Health and Social Supports

Potential Impacts of 2025 Budget Reconciliation on Health Coverage for Immigrant Families

Racism, Discrimination and Health

Physician Workforce Diversity by Race and Ethnicity

Racial and ethnic disparities in health remain persistent in the U.S. of health care services and broader social and economic factors that reflect historical and ongoing racism. One factor that can mitigate such disparities is when physicians and patients share the same racial or ethnic background.

Data show that in the U.S. Hispanic, Black, AIAN, and NHPI people were underrepresented among physicians relative to their share of the population. The widest gap was seen among Hispanic people, who comprised 20% of the total population but only 7% of the physician workforce.

Executive Orders Eliminating Diversity and Disparities Initiatives May Widen Disparities

State Reported Efforts to Address Health Disparities: A 50 State Review

KFF Survey on Racism, Discrimination and Health: Views on Racism and Trust in Key U.S. Institutions

Racial Disparities in Maternal and Infant Health: Current Status and Efforts to Address Them

Survey of Immigrants

A Majority of Lawfully Present Immigrants Are Worried They or a Family Member Could Be Detained or Deported

A new KFF poll finds six in 10 lawfully present immigrants say they worry about the possibility that they or a family member could be detained or deported, contributing to feelings of increased stress, anxiety, and other health problems. A companion report based on focus groups provides a window into how likely undocumented immigrants and their families are faring in the current immigration policy landscape.
Interactive Timeline

How History Has Shaped Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities: A Timeline of Policies and Events

This interactive timeline explores how history has shaped racial and ethnic health disparities and the lasting effects that persist to this day.

The timeline describes major U.S. federal policies and events since the early 1800s that are linked to present-day health disparities. It also covers policies that impact health coverage and access to care, medicine, and social and economic policies that influence health as well as efforts to tackle inequalities.
the Essentials

  • Disparities in Health and Health Care: 5 Key Questions and Answers

    This brief provides an introduction to what health and health care disparities are, why it is important to address them, what the status of disparities is today, recent federal actions to address disparities, and key issues related to addressing disparities in the future.

  • Timeline: How History Has Shaped Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities

    This timeline offers a historical view of significant U.S. federal policies and events spanning the early 1800s to today that have influenced present-day health disparities.

  • Health Policy 101: Chapter on Race, Inequality and Health

    Addressing persistent racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care is important for improving the nation’s health and economic prosperity. KFF explains such disparities and the factors that drive them, examines the actions to address them, and outlines future considerations.

  • Key Data on Health and Health Care by Race and Ethnicity

    Racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care remain a persistent challenge in the United States. An updated KFF resource examines how people of color fare compared to White people across 64 measures of health, health care, and social determinants of health.

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  • Pulling It Together: A Recovery Raises Expectations Too

    Perspective

    New Orleans is a city still struggling with the aftermath of Katrina and the levee breaks. The people of New Orleans feel that the nation and the federal government have largely forgotten them.

  • Putting Women’s Health Care Disparities On The Map: Examining Racial and Ethnic Disparities at the State Level

    Report

    This Kaiser Family Foundation report documents the persistence of disparities between white women and women of color across the country. It provides a rare and comprehensive state-level look at disparities among women of different races and ethnicities on a broad range of indicators of health and well-being, including rates of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, AIDS and cancer, and access to health insurance and health screenings.

  • The Effects of the Economic Recession on Communities of Color

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief examines some of the challenges associated with employment, daily life and access to health care among racial minorities, who tend to be disproportionately affected by many of the consequences of economic hard times.

  • The Role of Race and Ethnicity in Health Services

    Other Post

    This is a special issue of Health Services Research on the role of race and ethnicity in health services research. Based on a December 1992 conference sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges, the issue contains eight papers and as editorial preface by Mark Smith and Pancho Chang.

  • 2002 National Survey of Latinos

    Poll Finding

    The Pew Hispanic Center/Kaiser Family Foundation examines how members of the Hispanic community identify themselves, their views of the United States, their experiences with discrimination both within the Latino community itself and from non-Latino groups, their language abilities and preferences, their economic and financial situations and their experiences within the health care system.