THE BUREAU OF NATIONAL AFFAIRS: HEALTH CARE POLICY REPORT - JUNE 24, 2002
HEALTH PLAN & PROVIDER REPORT - JUNE 26, 2002
Report Says Lack of Health Insurance Key to Racial Disparities in Coverage
Lack of health insurance is the most critical reason for continuing disparities between white and minority health care coverage, the Center for Studying Health System Change said June 19.
A study by the center found that the difference between coverage for uninsured whites and minorities is nearly double that of insured whites and minorities.
Based on the findings of the study, the center called for increased coverage as a way to decrease the gap. "Reducing disparities in minority health care will be difficult without narrowing the health insurance gap," J. Lee Hargraves, a senior health researcher who wrote the study's final report, told a press briefing.
According to the report, the gap in coverage remained constant between 1997 and 2001, despite findings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that overall health has improved. The report claimed that insurance, or lack of insurance, was the most important factor in the difference in coverage, followed by income levels. The report was based on three telephone surveys, conducted in 1997, 1999, and 2001, or more than 60,000 people.
The center found a 15.4 percent difference between the percentage of uninsured whites with a regular health provider and uninsured blacks with a provider, and a 20.3 percent difference between whites and Latinos. The difference between insured whites and blacks is 7.3 percent. The report also said that 10.9 percent of whites, 18.7 percent of African Americans, and 32 percent of Latinos currently do not have health insurance.
The study also found that minorities were relying more upon emergency rooms for health care access.
Dr. Elena V. Rios, president of the National Hispanic Medical Association, told the briefing that insurance information needed to be available in both English and Spanish.
Dr. Lucille C. Perez, president of the National Medical Association, praised a bill recently proposed by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) that would require firms who employ more than 100 people to provide health insurance, and also commended the Bush administration for its plans to address the issue later this summer.
Perez and Rios said that increasing the number of minorities in the health care field would be a vital part of ensuring equitable access and treatment.
This report comes on the heels of another issued by the Institute of Medicine in March, which said that minorities receive lower-quality health care, even when income and socio-economic conditions are the same (10 HCPR 455, 3/25/02).
"This study shows that insurance matters," said a representative for the American Association of Health Plans. "We hope this will cause people to seriously look at the problem of the uninsured and seriously look at the cost crisis that's part of it."
