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Racial Equity and Health Policy

Racism, Discrimination and Health

Proposed Changes in the Census Could Impact Efforts to Address Health Disparities

The proposed changes would effectively prohibit the counting of many noncitizen immigrants, including undocumented immigrants and some lawfully present immigrants, and ban the inclusion of questions on race and ethnicity from the decennial census.

Health Coverage by Race and Ethnicity, 2010-2024

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

Overview of Health Coverage and Care for Individuals with Limited English Proficiency

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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  • Voces de Puerto Rico: Reflexiones Dos Meses Después de María (Video)

    Video

    En este video, los residentes de Puerto Rico hablan sobre su vida cotidiana y puntos de vista de los esfuerzos de recuperación dos meses después del huracán María. Describen un clima de frustración, la pérdida de empleo y problemas económicas, la falta de servicios básicos como la electricidad y el efecto en la salud mental y física de la población

  • Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Access to and Utilization of Care among Insured Adults

    Issue Brief

    This analysis based on data from the 2014 Kaiser Survey of Low-Income Americans examines differences in access to and utilization of care for Black and Hispanic adults compared to White adults among those who are uninsured, enrolled in Medicaid, and privately insured. The findings suggest that gains in health coverage under the ACA will lead to improvements in access to care and utilization for White, Black, and Hispanic adults. They also highlight the importance of…

  • New Orleans Residents Say Recovery Is Making Progress, But Many Believe The Gulf Oil Spill Will Be More Damaging Than Katrina

    News Release

    Crime is By Far The Biggest Concern in New Orleans Seven in 10 Residents Say Americans Have Forgotten The City’s Plight African-Americans View Their Recovery Differently; It’s Much Slower MENLO PARK, Calif. -- Five years after Hurricane Katrina, an increasing majority of the city’s residents says the rebuilding process is going well, but substantial majorities still report that the city has not recovered and feel the nation has forgotten them, according to a new comprehensive…

  • States Sustain and Expand Coverage For Low-Income Children and Families Despite Recession, But Gains Are Threatened By Impending End of Federal Assistance

    News Release

    New 50-State Survey Illustrates Key Role of CHIP Reauthorization and the Federal Stimulus Law in Safeguarding Coverage    WASHINGTON  – Despite the deep recession, most states have managed to safeguard and, in some cases, expand health coverage for children and parents in their Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Programs in 2009, according to a new survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.  But the gains, which could serve as a…

  • Pulling It Together: New Orleans Five Years After the Levees Broke

    Perspective

    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 told us in our recent survey that they believe the rest of the country has forgotten them and the difficulties the city still faces in…

  • Sources of Financing and the Level of Health Spending for Native Americans

    Report

    This study of Native Americans health care funding and expenditures includes the following: An analysis of all sources of financing and the level of total health expenditures by and on behalf of Native Americans, a detailed analysis of the same data for each of the 12 Indian Health Service areas across the country, an estimate of per-capita spending for health services to Native Americans overall, an illustration of the tribal discrepancies in per capita spending…

  • Health Coverage for Latino Children:  Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program

    Other Post

    Health Coverage for Latino Children: Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program An overview of Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and health care coverage for Latino Children. This issue brief was released at a briefing for Hispanic and Latino Media in Los Angeles, CA on June 24, 1999. The briefing is part of a series, Latino Voices for Latino Health: Three Cities, One Vision that is jointly coordinated by the Kaiser Family Foundation…

  • Testimony: The Status of Health and Health Care Disparities in the United States

    Issue Brief

    On March 8, 2017, Kaiser Family Foundation Director of the Disparities Policy Project Samantha Artiga testified before the House Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies. She presented on the status of health and health care disparities in the United States.