Women of color in America are 11 times more likely than their white counterparts to contract AIDS, according to a released Wednesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation.聽
The聽study聽examined women’s health care disparities at the state level in America and聽concluded that聽minorities generally receive less care, and have a greater likelihood of being in聽poor health in every state in America.聽It also found聽that they聽were聽much more likely to suffer from chronic conditions with a greater risk for diseases such as diabetes or heart disease.
The study, which took two years to complete and used federal Current Population Survey data, was released just as the issue of聽health care disparities is聽gaining聽increased attention within the nation’s聽broader health聽reform debate. Yesterday, the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services convened a minority stakeholders meeting and released a summary report聽detailing聽disparities among racial and ethnic minorities in America. Also聽on Tuesday, a group of minority lawmakers聽said聽that a reform package that doesn’t address such disparities would face stiff opposition.
Dr. Carolyn Clancy, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, said聽state studies like the one released today聽make the disparities issue even more聽difficult to ignore. She, along with four other health officials as well as lawmakers and the report’s authors, spoke at聽an event in conjunction with the Kaiser study’s release.聽“To be honest, national reports… are wonderful, but you know it’s easy to distance yourself from them,” Clancy said.聽“When it’s your state and you can even bring it down one step further to a county or local community, suddenly you have to confront that information.”聽
“We know nationally and from this report that there’s a gap, a big gap, particularly for women, between best possible health care quality and that which is routinely delivered,” she said. “I just think this is incredibly powerful, it doesn’t give solutions, but it is like having a GPS in your car.”聽
Researchers concluded that 23 percent of women of color are uninsured compared with聽13 percent of white women, and that 23 percent of women of color don’t have a high school diploma compared with聽7 percent of white women. Both of these circumstances add to the likeliness of health problems. And each聽minority group聽faces specific sets of challenges, the study detailed. Hispanic women, for instance, face problems with access and utilization of care.
