Health Reform Legislation and the Imperative to Achieve Equity in Health and Health Care
December 16, 2009
Dear Colleagues:
As you know, this has been an historic year for health reform. The House of Representatives passed legislation last month and the Senate appears poised to approve similar legislation aimed at expanding health insurance coverage, reducing health-care costs, and improving the quality of care. These objectives, however, cannot be achieved without attending to the need of communities of color. These communities suffer from poorer health relative to national averages from the cradle to the grave, yet are disproportionately uninsured and have greater difficulty accessing high-quality health care.
For that reason, the Health Policy Institute of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, in partnership with the Drexel University School of Public Health Center for Health Equality and Health Management Associates, has periodically issued analyses of the potential impact of the House and Senate health legislation on health and health care inequities. Our latest analysis, released today, finds that while both bills take important steps to tackle health inequities, there are important differences between the bills that policymakers need to be aware of as the legislation moves forward. We invite you to read this analysis on our website at http://www.jointcenter.org/hpi/pages/new-analysis-equity-provisions-congressional-health-proposals/#publications .
In addition, it is important for policymakers and researchers to understand what is needed beyond health reform legislation to achieve health equity. For this reason, on December 17 from 2:00-3:00 EST Community Catalyst will host a conference call to discuss measures to reduce health disparities in the national health reform bills and to identify post reform opportunities to advance health equity. The call will explore what's in the bills and what's missing. Participants will also discuss anticipated provisions in the final bill. This call will help state advocates integrate the reduction of disparities into their agenda on an ongoing basis. There will also be time for your questions and suggestions.
To RSVP for this call, please follow the link here.
From all of us at the Joint Center, we wish you the best in this holiday season and beyond as we work to achieve health equity!
Sincerely,
Brian D. Smedley
