Eliminating Health Disparities

Despite dramatic achievements in health and healthcare over the past century, evident racial/ethnic and rural/urban health disparities continue to exist. 

APHA Government Relations Staff is working with key allies on Capitol Hill to move forward with comprehensive legislation to address the underlying causes of disparities in health status and health care access. At the same time, policy analysts in the APHA Center for Public Health Policy are dedicated to developing innovative policy recommendations to reduce and ultimately eliminate health disparities.   

Reports and Fact Sheets:

• Evaluating the Economic Causes and Consequences of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities
• Health Disparities: The Basics
• Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) (fact sheet currently under revision)

Letters to the 111th Congress

• Coalition letter urging the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee to eliminate health disparities in the upcoming reform (May 6, 2009)
• Coalition letter urging President Obama to tackle health disparities via health reform (April 27, 2009)
• Coalition letter asking the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to hold a hearing on addressing health disparities in health reform legislation (April 15, 009)
• Coalition letter to the House and Senate with recommendations for improving health equity in health reform legislation (March 4, 2009)
• Coalition letter urging President Obama to make achieving health equity a priority (January 29, 2009) 
• Coalition letter in support of Sen. Stabenow's efforts to ensure that the electronic health care system under development includes the capacity to collect standardized data on health disparities measures (January 26, 2009)