Bringing health disparities to the health reform table:
Concrete Approaches for Addressing Disparities in the Context of Reform

Across the nation and policy makers and community leaders are considering fundamental reforms in the way health care is financed and delivered.  This is all to the good, but many see the healthcare system as the only problem, and also as the primary source of solutions. Yet, the health disparity crisis results from the broader societal factors including interactions among the educational system, criminal justice system and economic market with the healthcare system.  Solutions must also address these interactions.  The healthcare system can be an important force for improving the health disparities crisis, but only if health disparities are explicitly taken in to consideration during the healthcare reform process.

Soon our nation will be a majority of minorities. The trends which drive this ethnic demographic transition include: an aging white population, declining white birth rate, dwindling white immigration, immigration of non-whites (particularly Hispanics and Asians) and the higher birth rate of minority groups. The health profile of our nation will be determined by the health profile of the minorities. Yet, despite great strides in the health status of Americans in the twentieth century, the health profile of the country’s racial and ethnic groups lags behind.