After years of falling short, Del. Donna Christensen (D-Virgin Islands) and the House's three minority caucuses finally achieved success in adding to the House reform bill billions in federal aid to fix racial disparities in health care.

But that was the easy part.

Now Christensen knows they will have to fight to protect the funding in a bruising House-Senate conference, where negotiators will be looking to trim every dollar they can to keep costs down. And the Senate bills, in particular the Finance Committee version, are far less generous in fixing disparities than is the House bill.

On Thursday, Christensen picked up an ally - President Barack Obama - who told the caucuses in a White House meeting that he'll back some items they're seeking in the final bill and that he wanted to review others.

"We have the provisions in the bill, and we are continuing to work on members of the Senate to have them understand how important it is," said Christensen, co-chairwoman of the Health and Wellness Task Force for the Congressional Black Caucus.

"We are concerned, but we figure if we have the president to weigh in on our side, they have a better chance of staying in, and we have asked the president as we go through conference to weigh in on the side of health equity."

"There are initiatives that are in the House bill, like work force issues, linguistic competence, cultural training and the collection of data, that are points of worry in making it into final [legislation]," said Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who is co-chairman of the Progressive Caucus and a member of the Hispanic Congressional Caucus. "It worries me a lot that the Senate is giving it minimal priority."

The quest to correct racial disparities in health care - differences in the level and quality of treatment between whites and minorities - hasn't been a focus of the health reform debate. But advocates are hoping to use the nearly trillion-dollar effort to remake the U.S. health care system to fix some of the inequities, by sending billions in federal aid to boost community hospitals, local clinics and other programs.

Obama himself hasn't made fixing the disparities a major feature of his health reform pitch, speaking about it mainly in front of minority audiences, in speeches to the NAACP and a Congressional Black Caucus dinner. The White House convened a conference on fixing racial disparities last summer featuring health reform czar Nancy-Ann DeParle and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. And on Monday, Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett will host an online health care chat about how the legislation affects minority communities.

Advocates point out that any broad-based effort to expand affordability and access to health insurance through either a public plan or greater competition with the private sector will help all Americans. But they say there are specific obstacles to care in some communities - everything from cultural and language barriers to a lack of high-quality facilities - that need to be addressed.

Read the Full Story at Politico.com.

After years of falling short, Del. Donna Christensen (D-Virgin Islands) and the House's three minority caucuses finally achieved success in adding to the House reform bill billions in federal aid to fix racial disparities in health care.

But that was the easy part.

Now Christensen knows they will have to fight to protect the funding in a bruising House-Senate conference, where negotiators will be looking to trim every dollar they can to keep costs down. And the Senate bills, in particular the Finance Committee version, are far less generous in fixing disparities than is the House bill.

On Thursday, Christensen picked up an ally - President Barack Obama - who told the caucuses in a White House meeting that he'll back some items they're seeking in the final bill and that he wanted to review others.

"We have the provisions in the bill, and we are continuing to work on members of the Senate to have them understand how important it is," said Christensen, co-chairwoman of the Health and Wellness Task Force for the Congressional Black Caucus.

"We are concerned, but we figure if we have the president to weigh in on our side, they have a better chance of staying in, and we have asked the president as we go through conference to weigh in on the side of health equity."

"There are initiatives that are in the House bill, like work force issues, linguistic competence, cultural training and the collection of data, that are points of worry in making it into final [legislation]," said Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who is co-chairman of the Progressive Caucus and a member of the Hispanic Congressional Caucus. "It worries me a lot that the Senate is giving it minimal priority."

The quest to correct racial disparities in health care - differences in the level and quality of treatment between whites and minorities - hasn't been a focus of the health reform debate. But advocates are hoping to use the nearly trillion-dollar effort to remake the U.S. health care system to fix some of the inequities, by sending billions in federal aid to boost community hospitals, local clinics and other programs.

Obama himself hasn't made fixing the disparities a major feature of his health reform pitch, speaking about it mainly in front of minority audiences, in speeches to the NAACP and a Congressional Black Caucus dinner. The White House convened a conference on fixing racial disparities last summer featuring health reform czar Nancy-Ann DeParle and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. And on Monday, Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett will host an online health care chat about how the legislation affects minority communities.

Advocates point out that any broad-based effort to expand affordability and access to health insurance through either a public plan or greater competition with the private sector will help all Americans. But they say there are specific obstacles to care in some communities - everything from cultural and language barriers to a lack of high-quality facilities - that need to be addressed.

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Statement of Ralph B. Everett, President and CEO Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies On House Passage of Health Reform Legislation

The health care reform legislation passed by the United States House of Representatives yesterday is an historic measure that will move the nation in the direction of eliminating longstanding racial and ethnic disparities.  As its provisions take effect, the new law will improve the state of health care for people of color by covering the uninsured and widening coverage for individuals with pre-existing conditions.  In addition, health care providers will now be incentivized to work in medically underserved communities.  These and other provisions together will bring significant improvements in health outcomes for people of color, who as a group face greater barriers to high-quality care than the population at large.

Our research has shown that nearly a third of health costs faced by minority Americans are excess expenses due to inequities in our system, and that they add more than $250 billion a year to the nation's health care costs.  Addressing many of the existing inequities, as this new law will do, will save money across the board.

But we also know that the health care reform bill will not fully eliminate racial and ethnic disparities.  And many of the existing inequities in health care outcomes are firmly rooted in social, economic and environmental factors that remain to be dealt with. Research shows that just having health insurance does not guarantee access to high-quality care, nor does it significantly improve health status.

We view the legislation as an enormous achievement that will benefit this nation for generations to come.  The goal of health equity is now the law of the land.  And that should be welcomed by all who seek the fulfillment of our nation's most cherished ideals.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies is one of the nation's leading research and public policy institutions and the only one whose work focuses primarily on issues of particular concern to African Americans and other people of color. The Joint Center will mark its 40th Anniversary of service in 2010. To learn more, please visit www.jointcenter.org.