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Racial Equity and Health Policy

Racism, Discrimination and Health

Health Coverage by Race and Ethnicity, 2010-2024

This brief examines trends in health coverage by race and ethnicity from 2010 through 2024. Since 2010, there have been large gains in health coverage across racial and ethnic groups but racial and ethnic disparities in coverage persisted. The largest gains occurred after implementation of the ACA coverage expansions in 2014.

In 2024, the overall uninsured rate increased for the first time since 2019 as pandemic-era continuous enrollment in Medicaid came to an end, with significant increases among Hispanic, Black, and White people under age 65. Coverage disparities have persisted over time and, in some cases, widened despite earlier gains under the ACA.

Racial Disparities in Life Expectancy

The Growing Use of Artificial Intelligence in Health Care and Implications for Disparities

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

Elimination of Federal Diversity Initiatives: Updates and Current Status

the Essentials

  • How Experiencing Racial Discrimination Impacts Health

    This brief highlights research examining mechanisms underlying health outcomes linked to self-reported experiences of racial discrimination, including biological changes, chronic stress, mental health, substance use, pregnancy-related outcomes, and sleep.

  • 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.
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.

Survey of Immigrants

KFF-New York Times Survey: Immigrants Report Rising Fear, Negative Economic and Health Impacts, and Changing Political Views During the First Year of President Trump’s Second Term

The 2025 Survey of Immigrants, a partnership between KFF and The New York Times, takes an in-depth look at the experiences of immigrants during the first year of President Trump’s second term, including their worries related to increased immigration enforcement, their health and economic wellbeing, and the political views and preferences of immigrant voters. The survey paints a portrait of families under strain — where fear of detention and economic instability are negatively impacting immigrants’ health and reshaping immigrant families’ daily lives and views of U.S. political parties.

Read the News Release | Explore The New York Times’ Reporting

Immigrants

Many Lawfully Present Immigrants Will Lose Health Coverage Due to the 2025 Tax and Budget Law

This policy watch outlines the groups of lawfully present immigrants that will lose access to federally funded health coverage due to new restrictions on eligibility in the 2025 tax and budget law.
It also highlights the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) estimates of the number of lawfully present immigrants who will become uninsured due to the provisions, as well as estimated federal savings that will result.
CBO estimates that the law’s restrictions on eligibility will result in 1.4 million lawfully present immigrants becoming uninsured and reduce federal spending by $131 billion by 2034.

Related: Key Facts on Health Coverage of Immigrants

Recent State Actions Related to Immigrants’ Access to Services and Immigration Enforcement

Health Issues for Immigrants in Detention Centers

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

Role of Immigrants in the Hospital Workforce

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  • The Digital Divide And Access To Health Information Online

    Poll Finding

    The Affordable Care Act (ACA) calls for a number of web-based initiatives, including development of the website healthcare.gov which provides a variety of health information and helps individuals find coverage options. Therefore, understanding the level and quality of Internet access among those groups most likely to benefit from reform, such as the uninsured, those with lower incomes, and members of racial and ethnic minority groups, is an important consideration as health reform is implemented. A…

  • Survey of Georgia Residents on HIV/AIDS: Summary and Chartpack

    Report

    The public in Georgia, and particularly African Americans, are concerned about HIV/AIDS as a problem facing the nation. Most believe that the U.S. is losing ground when it comes to HIV/AIDS, and most would like to see the government increase spending to fight the disease in the U.S. This statewide representative survey examines Georgians views on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in their state and local communities, their knowledge and misconceptions about HIV/AIDS, Georgia's HIV testing rates,…

  • Poll: 7 in 10 Black Americans Say They Have Experienced Incidents of Discrimination or Police Mistreatment in Their Lifetime, Including Nearly Half Who Felt Their Lives Were in Danger

    News Release

    Most of the Public Favor a Range of Police Reforms to Curb Excessive Force, though Partisan Gaps Exist on Some Key Proposals Amid nationwide protests against racial bias in law enforcement and beyond, a new KFF poll finds that the vast majority (71%) of Black Americans say they’ve experienced some form of racial discrimination or mistreatment during their lifetimes – including nearly half (48%) who say at one point that they felt their life was…

  • Putting Men’s Health Care Disparities on the Map: Health Status Highlights

    Report

    This fact sheet provides a brief overview of racial disparities in health status among men of different races in the United States. It draws findings from the report, Putting Men’s Health Care Disparities On the Map, which uses national data sources from multiple years to generate state-level estimates on a range of indicators of health status, access, and well-being for men of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Women and men of different races and ethnicities…

  • Report Examines the Role of Medicare and the Indian Health Service for American Indians and Alaska Natives

    News Release

    A new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation examines the role of both Medicare and the Indian Health Service (IHS) in providing access to health care for about 650,000 American Indians and Alaska Natives who are age 65 and older or who have permanent disabilities. While Medicare provides important health care coverage for most in this group, its relatively high cost-sharing and gaps in benefits can be problematic for American Indians and Alaska Native Medicare…

  • The AIDS Epidemic at 20 Years: THE VIEW FROM AMERICA Survey

    Report

    Twenty years into the AIDS epidemic, the Kaiser Family Foundation conducted its most recent survey of Americans about HIV/AIDS. This report summarizes the key findings from the survey, including analysis of trends over time and across race/ethnicity, age, and gender. It describes Americans' concerns about HIV/AIDS as a personal, national, and global issue. It also assesses Americans' knowledge about HIV/AIDS, their information needs, and their perspective on important policy issues and spending priorities. Report (.pdf) Timeline (.pdf)…

  • Paths to Success: A Forum on Young African-American Men

    Poll Finding

    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: A Forum on Young African-American Men, addressed the results of a major new national survey conducted by The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation and…

  • Health Coverage and Care in the South: A Chartbook

    Report

    The South has faced longstanding disparities in health and health care, although significant variation exists between southern states. As a group, compared to those in other regions, Southerners are more likely to be uninsured, less likely to have access to needed health services, and more likely to experience a number of chronic health conditions. This chartbook provides key data on the demographic and economic characteristics of the southern population as well as their health status,…