Racial Equity and Health Policy

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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  • Voices from Puerto Rico: Reflections Two Months After Maria (Report)

    Issue Brief

    Two months after Maria made landfall, Kaiser Family Foundation staff traveled to Puerto Rico. This brief presents findings from focus groups and individual interviews with 40 individuals from 10 different regions on the island affected by the storm.

  • Voices from Puerto Rico: Reflections Two Months After Maria (Video)

    Video

    Residents of Puerto Rico discuss their daily lives and their views on recovery efforts two months after Hurricane Maria. In this video, they describe job loss and continuing economic disruption, a lack of basic services such as electricity and a rising toll on the population's mental and physical health.

  • What Do We Know about Social Determinants of Health in the U.S. and Comparable Countries?

    Feature

    Social determinants, such as individual and community behaviors, economic circumstances, and environmental factors, can influence health costs and outcomes, despite being outside the control of the health system in some respects. This slideshow explores social determinants and health outcomes in the United States and similar countries. The collection looks at income inequality, obesity, educational attainment, and rates of insurance, as well as behaviors such as cigarette and alcohol consumption. Health outcomes, such as disease burden from drug abuse disorders and motor vehicle road injuries, also are examined, along with measures such as years of life lost due to firearms assaults and death rates from accidental poisonings.

  • Public Health in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief provides a snapshot of key public health challenges in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. It discusses topics such as mortality, food, water, sanitation, health care infrastructure, and mental health on the island in the wake of the storm.

  • Poll: Family Members of Older Adults with Serious Illness Are More Confident That They Know Their Medical Wishes When They Have Written Documents

    News Release

    Most Seriously Ill Seniors Struggle with Cognitive and Mental Health Challenges; Nearly Half Reportedly Have Problems Understanding Drug and Medical Instructions Seniors with serious illness and their families are more likely to feel their wishes for medical care are being followed when they have written them down, finds a new Kaiser Family Foundation survey on…

  • Serious Illness in Late Life: The Public’s Views and Experiences

    Report

    In context of the rapidly growing number of older adults in the U.S. and increasing challenges that this population faces, the Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a large scale, nationally representative telephone survey to better understand people’s expectations about later life and efforts they’ve taken to plan for if they become seriously ill. To learn more about the experiences of those with serious illness specifically, this survey also included interviews with adults who are either personally age 65 or older living with a serious illness, or have an older family member who is or was before they recently died.

  • Puerto Rico: Fast Facts

    Fact Sheet

    Puerto Rico: Fast Facts provides a quick snapshot of the island's demographic, health, and economic characteristics. It also provides some information on federal Medicaid rules, infrastructure, and fiscal challenges ahead.

  • Medicaid and American Indians and Alaska Natives

    Issue Brief

    This brief provides an overview of the American Indian and Alaska Native population, describes the role of the Indian Health Service and Medicaid for this population, and discusses the impact of the Medicaid expansion for this population.