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Topic: Health DisparitiesNews
July 2012
Johnny and Sally both attend the same private high school in Chicago. But when the final bell rings, Johnny goes home to the predominantly African-American East Garfield Park community on the west side of the city. Sally usually takes the train back home to Lincoln Park, a predominantly white area on the north side of town.
Both sets of parents make the same total household income and agree...
July 2012
As a result of the racial and economic segregation of Cook County neighborhoods, life expectancy varies along neighborhood lines, according to a study by The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. The study found that residents of neighborhoods with an annual median income above $53,000 live almost 14 years longer than those with median incomes below $25,000.
Those with lower income...
July 2012
It is becoming abundantly clear that the opponents of President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act care little about minority health.
David Bositis, senior research director for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, has observed in the {Washington Post} that about 36 percent of African Americans have no health insurance (compared to approximately 12 percent...
July 2012
As a child, I watched my father, an African American physician, work in some of the most underserved neighborhoods in our community. He treated medical conditions that had escalated to serious illness and disability because of lack of access to affordable, quality health care. Although he served these communities with hope, it pained him to see how unchecked disease and disability had diminished...
July 2012
President Obama has written millions of seniors, working poor, middle class Americans and African Americans a prescription for longer and healthier lives. The Supreme Court has sanctioned the heart of the president’s 2010 Affordable Care Act. But the angry crowd from the right wants to tear it up.
What the naysayers don’t understand is that the Affordable Care Act is not just about...
July 2012
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act means that many people of color will see expanded access to healthcare, including those in underserved urban communities gaining increased prevention care. In a column for TheGrio.com, Dr. Brian D. Smedley, vice president at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, notes that under the Affordable Care Act (ACA)...
June 2012
There are recent changes in how you are registered at a hospital. These changes are based on years of research with the goal being improved care for all. It is good to be prepared, so here is a bit of background information. The Institute of Medicine (IOM)'s landmark report "Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care" (2002) identified that access,...
June 2012
GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney has said only one thing about the Affordable Care Act. It must go and on day one of his administration if elected he will start the ball rolling to repeal it. The Supreme Court may well save him from this braggadocio, vote pandering boast if the four ultra-conservatives justices joined by the court's swing vote, Anthony Kennedy, get their way. They have...
Press Release
July 2012
The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and the Cook County, IL, PLACE MATTERS team today released a report documenting how neighborhood social and economic conditions in Cook County shape racial and ethnic health inequities in the city.
The report, Place Matters for Health in Cook County: Ensuring Opportunities for Good Health for All, finds that the location of a person...
June 2012
The U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) represents a significant advancement in the effort to repair the deeply broken U.S. healthcare system and promote equitable opportunities for good health for all. As long as its provisions are fully funded by Congress, the law will improve access to health insurance for...
Archived Research
January 1, 2008
To better understand the issues and to inform its deliberation in formulating recommendations for policy, research, and practice, the Infant Mortality Commission asked experts in various fields related to maternal and child health and infant mortality to prepare background papers on specific issues. This background paper seeks to expand our understanding of the causes and effects of infant...
May 1, 2006
Historically, the focal point of the discourse on the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents has been teen pregnancy, and the population of interest has been adolescent females ages 10-14 and ages 15-19. Issues related to the sexual and reproductive health of young males were seldom considered, as reflected in the type of data collected—or not collected—for male and female teens. In the...
September 1, 2005
With $10 billion in Medicaid spending reductions under consideration by Congress, the issue of Medicaid has returned to the forefront of the nation’s public policy debate. One recurring proposal to limit federal Medicaid spending would place firm caps on either Medicaid enrollment or federal Medicaid spending.
May 1, 2005
Over the past five years, racial and ethnic disparities in health care and health status have been highlighted in a series of governmental and non-governmental reports. The nature and extent of the problem should be obvious to all who are paying attention. However, less is known or shared about solutions that can be adopted in local communities, especially where the problems are most severe. The...
December 1, 2004
Men of color face many challenges in achieving and maintaining good health. Their social circumstances and cultural norms, as well as the larger society’s discriminatory treatment of them, often engender in these men unhealthful responses. When social circumstances include poverty, limited education, and scarce employment opportunities, the impact on health can be especially harmful. This brief...
June 1, 2004
In a national “Call to Action” released in 2003, the Surgeon General of the United States challenged public and private institutions to ensure that all Americans achieve optimal oral health. As the report states, “oral health is essential to general health and well-being and can be achieved.” The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, through its Health Policy Institute, is taking up...
July 1, 2002
This literature review and analysis of issues related to economics, HIV/AIDS, and governance, follows a similar review conducted in 2000. In the review it was noted that many gaps existed in the literature, and that there was a generally poor understanding of crucial issues that inform impact, policy and response. It is certainly a positive sign that in the development of an updated bibliography...
