News
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
Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown
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
Diverse: Issues in Higher Education
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...
June 2012
A new study by Virginia Commonwealth University Center on Human Needs researchers shows that lack of education has deep impact on the health and crime rate of a community.
In collaboration with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Health Policy Institute and the Virginia Network for Geospatial Health Research, the VCU Center on Human Needs is releasing the second of eight...
June 2012
The average life expectancy for people in certain parts of New Orleans is just 54 years, according to a new report, meaning that residents there have about the same prospects as people in sub-Saharan African nations such as Cameroon and Angola. In other sections of town, people can expect to live an average of 80 years, putting them in the company of wealthier countries such as New Zealand and...
Press Release
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...
June 2012
The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and the Orleans Parish, LA, Place Matters team today released a report documenting how neighborhood social and economic conditions in New Orleans powerfully shape racial and ethnic health inequities in the city.
Place Matters for Health in Orleans Parish: Ensuring Opportunities for Good Health for All finds that residents’ zip codes are...