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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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  • Racial Disparities in Life Expectancy

    Issue Brief

    There was an increase in life expectancy between 2021 and 2023 across all racial and ethnic groups. American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) people experienced the largest increase in life expectancy of 4.5 years during this time, followed by Hispanic (3.5 years) and Black people (2.8 years).

  • The Impact of HIV on Hispanic/Latino People in the United States

    Fact Sheet

    In the U.S., Hispanic/Latino people have been disproportionately affected by HIV since the epidemic’s beginning, and that disparity has deepened over time. Hispanic/Latino people represent a larger share of HIV diagnoses and people estimated to be living with HIV relative to their population size. This fact sheet provides an overview of the impact of HIV on Hispanic/Latino people in the U.S.

  • KFF/New York Times 2025 Survey of Immigrants: Health and Health Care Experiences During the Second Trump Administration

    Poll Finding

    Since President Trump took office in January 2025, four in ten immigrant adults say they have experienced negative health impacts due to immigration-related worries and about one in five say their child’s well-being has been impacted. Many also report skipping or delaying health care and avoiding applying for or stopping participation in government assistance programs, with some of the largest impacts among likely undocumented immigrants and immigrant parents.

  • A Review of Multiple Analyses Documents Persistent Racial Disparities in COVID-19

    News Release

    A KFF review of a wide range of studies finds a consistent pattern that people of color are bearing a disproportionate burden of COVID-19 cases, deaths, and hospitalizations, and that they may face increased barriers to access testing. These disparities, brought to the fore in the pandemic, mirror and compound longstanding underlying disparities in health and health care in the U.S. that stem from structural and systemic barriers across sectors, including racism and discrimination. Other…

  • President Obama’s Campaign Position on Health Reform and Other Health Care Issues

    Issue Brief

    During the 2008 Presidential campaign now President Barack Obama announced a comprehensive health care reform proposal and laid out his positions on a number of other key health care issues. The two documents below summarize these campaign policies and positions. They were prepared by the Kaiser Family Foundation with the assistance of Health Policy Alternatives, Inc., and are based on information compiled from Obama's campaign Web site, speeches, campaign debates and news reports. They are…

  • KFF/The Undefeated Survey on Race and Health

    Report

    The Survey on Race and Health is a joint project between KFF and ESPN’s The Undefeated exploring the public’s views and experiences on health care, racial discrimination, and the coronavirus pandemic. It includes a special focus on the views and experiences of Black Americans, including unconscious bias and structural racism; experiences and trust in the health care system; the social and economic impacts of the pandemic; and views of a potential COVID-19 vaccine.

  • Under the Affordable Care Act, People of Color Have Seen Greater Gains in Health Coverage But Remain More Likely Than Whites to Be Uninsured

    News Release

    The uninsured rate has fallen among all racial and ethnic groups under the Affordable Care Act with steeper declines among people of color compared to Whites, according to a new analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The findings for Hispanics were especially striking. Between 2013 and 2015, the uninsured rate for Hispanics fell from 26 percent to 17 percent – a sharper decline than for any other group. Nationally, the total number of nonelderly uninsured…

  • COVID-19 Cases and Deaths, Vaccinations, and Treatments by Race/Ethnicity as of Fall 2022

    Issue Brief

    Over the course of the pandemic, racial disparities in cases and deaths have widened and narrowed. However, overall, Black, Hispanic, and American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) people have borne the heaviest health impacts of the pandemic. While Black and Hispanic people were less likely than their White counterparts to receive a vaccine during the initial phases of the vaccination rollout, these disparities have narrowed over time and reversed for Hispanic people.

  • Connecting Eligible Immigrant Families to Health Coverage and Care: Key Lessons from Outreach and Enrollment Workers

    Issue Brief

    Beginning in 2014, health coverage options will significantly expand under health reform through an expansion in Medicaid eligibility and by making tax credits available to help individuals purchase coverage through new Health Benefit Exchanges. Given their high uninsured rate and limited access to private and public coverage, one group who could significantly benefit from this coverage expansion is lawfully residing immigrant families. However, it will be important to address barriers eligible immigrant families often face…