Barack Obama

Obama Introduces Bill to Eliminate Health Care Disparities

Thursday, June 7, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ben LaBolt

Legislation would improve access to quality health care for minority populations

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today joined Senators Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and Thad Cochran (R-MS) to introduce the Minority Health and Health Disparity Elimination Act, which would authorize nearly $500 million to improve health care for racial and ethnic minority and other health disparity populations. The bill is co-sponsored by Senators Bingaman (D-NM), Clinton (D-NY), Brown (D-OH), and Durbin (D-IL). The bill includes the new Health Action Zone Initiative from the Healthy Communities Act of 2007 that was introduced by Senator Obama in March.

“It is our moral imperative to ensure Americans have access to quality health care regardless of economic, social, or ethnic backgrounds,” said Senator Obama. “This comprehensive legislation provides the resources to increase access to care, improve health care quality, diversify the health care workforce, and expand research into minority health issues.”

Racial and ethnic minorities make up approximately one third of the U.S. population but disproportionately comprise 52 percent of the uninsured and suffer from illness and death at a greater rate than Caucasians. The Minority Health Improvement and Health Disparity Elimination Act proposes a comprehensive approach to address these health disparities. It provides grants to increase access to health care, improve health care quality and promote disease prevention, and establishes the Health Action Zone Initiative. In addition, the bill reauthorizes the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities at the National Institutes of Health and strengthens its role in coordinating and planning minority health and health disparity research.

Studies have shown that minority health professionals are more likely to care for patients from minority and disadvantaged backgrounds and to provide culturally sensitive care, so creating a diverse healthcare workforce is essential for a health America. The bill would help achieve that goal by reauthorizing the programs that help schools recruit and retain minority students and students from disadvantaged backgrounds like the Title VII health workforce diversity, Centers of Excellence and Health Careers Opportunity programs.

The bill also reauthorizes and strengthens the Office of Minority Health, mandates uniform data collection standards for federal health programs and creates an advisory committee at the FDA to address genomic issues related to racial and ethnic minorities.

Summary of the Minority Health and Health Disparity Elimination Act

Despite the great advancements in health and healthcare, racial and ethnic minority populations continue to experience poorer health resulting in higher levels of illness and death. The Minority Health Improvement and Health Disparity Elimination Act addresses health disparities through education and training, healthcare quality and access, research, data collection, and leadership and collaboration.

Improving Cultural Competency among Health care Providers

• Establishes an Internet Clearinghouse at the Office of Minority Health to include culturally appropriate templates for visual aids and standard documents to improve provider-patient communication
• Requires the Secretary of HHS to support the development, evaluation, and dissemination of cultural competence curricula for use in health professions schools and continuing education programs

Increasing Diversity in the Health care Workforce

• Reauthorizes HRSA diversity in the health professions programs including the Centers of Excellence, the Health Careers Opportunity Program, the Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students, and the Loan Repayments and Fellowships program


• Establishes grants for scholarships to minorities who make a mid-career change to a health profession


• Requires health professional schools that receive federal funding to annually collect and report demographic data on applicants, matriculates and graduates, as well as graduates’ intended practice location and discipline


• Requires the Secretary to establish a database with aggregated and disaggregated statistics collected from health professional schools to track and monitor racial and ethnic diversity of health professionals

Enhancing Health care Quality and Access

• Establishes grants to communities for projects to promote positive health behaviors, and to improve outreach, participation, and enrollment in available healthcare programs


• Codifies the CDC Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) to assist communities in mobilizing and organizing resources to support effective and sustainable programs to reduce disparities in health and healthcare


• Establishes demonstration grants to improve access to healthcare, patient navigators, and health literacy education services; to create collaborative partnerships led by federally qualified health centers to implement systems of primary care modeled after a program at the Bureau of Primary Health Care at HRSA; and to address longstanding, unmet health and healthcare needs in the Mississippi Delta


• Establishes Health Action Zones to support State, tribal or local initiatives to improve minority health

Research on Health Disparities and Addressing Genetic Variations and Health

• Reauthorizes and strengthens the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities at the NIH


• Requires AHRQ to create a strategic plan regarding health disparities, award grants or contracts for health disparities research, and establish public-private partnership to determine the best practices in disease management strategies and interventions


• Requires the Secretary to increase and apply knowledge about genetic variation with a focus on minority populations and examine the benefits and availability of genetic screening, diagnostics, and treatment


• Creates an FDA advisory committee on pharmacogenomics and emerging issues, to provide policy and guidance recommendations on issues related to racial and ethnic minorities

Data Collection, Analysis, and Quality

• Ensures the collection and reporting of data on race and ethnicity, primary language, and other health disparity indicators within federal health programs

Leadership, Collaboration and National Action Plan

• Strengthens, clarifies and adds to the duties of the Office and requires the Office to collaborate and cooperate with other Federal agencies


• Requires the Office to develop and implement a Department-wide plan to improve minority health and eliminate health disparities




Senator Obama is a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.