Overview

Many provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) aim to reduce the gap in health status and health outcomes for racial and ethnic minorities. Racial and ethnic minorities have higher rates of debilitating diseases such as cancer, obesity, diabetes, and AIDS, are less likely to have access to routine care and prevention, and are more likely to lack insurance coverage, making up a third of the U.S. population but accounting for half of the uninsured.

HCAN’s Work on Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities

The 103 million people of color in our country experience persistent differences in health status, health outcomes and health coverage. HCAN detailed these disparities in comprehensive national and 50-state reports.

HCAN Report: Unequal Lives: Health Care Discrimination Harms Communities of Color (3/09)

State Reports

More Resources

• Left in the Dark: A Federal Policy Proposal Means Millions of Non-English-Speakers Will Lose Out on the Right to Appeal a Denial of Coverage (Alliance for a Just Society), September 2011
• Minority Health, Kaiser Family Foundation
• National Health Disparities Report, 2010, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• All HCAN materials on racial and ethnic health disparities