Researchers found that many people of color experience worse health care compared to white people, even in states with good health systems. This analysis comes from the Commonwealth Fund, an organization focused on fair health care.
Even in states with top-performing health systems like Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New York, there are significant disparities in health care for people of color.
For example, Black and American Indian/Alaska Native people are more likely to die young from preventable health issues like infections and certain cancers. Also, access to health care is harder for people of color compared to white people, even after efforts like the Affordable Care Act.
This analysis looked at data from over 328 million people between 2021 and 2022. It suggests that to achieve fair health care, we need policies and actions like making health insurance affordable for everyone, improving primary care, and investing in social services.
Dr. Laurie Zephyrin from the Commonwealth Fund says that we need accurate data to track progress and make sure we’re moving towards fair health care for everyone. The Commonwealth Fund’s State Scorecard on Health System Performance series helps understand these issues by evaluating each state’s health care system.
The Commonwealth Fund analyzed data from different states to see how well their health care systems perform. They used this information to create a “State Health Equity Score” to measure how fair health care is for different racial and ethnic groups.
The analysis showed that there are still many gaps in health care between white people and people of color. For instance, Black and American Indian/Alaska Native people are more likely to face health issues that could have been prevented, and it’s harder for them to get the care they need.
To make health care more fair, we need to take action. This includes making sure everyone can afford health insurance, improving the quality of care, and investing in services that help people in need. By tracking progress and using real data, we can work towards making health care better for everyone.
