Even states that made progress narrowing racial and ethnic health disparities have considerable gaps on access, outcomes and quality of care, a new Commonwealth Fund report finds.
The big picture: Black and Native Americans are much likelier to die early from preventable illnesses than their white and Asian counterparts.
- "Health equity does not exist in any state in the U.S.," said David Radley, a senior scientist at the Commonwealth Fund and an author of the report.
What they found: Overall, the health system performs below average for Black and Hispanic people in most states, according to the analysis.
- Six states — Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Hawai'i, New Hampshire and New York — had above-average health system performance for all racial groups, but the data still shows health disparities in those states.
- Health performance was below average for Native Americans in all states reporting data.
The report analyzed federal data captured between 2020-2022 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Census Bureau.
- It reflects the COVID-19 pandemic's disproportionate health effects on Black, Hispanic and Native American populations.
Despite the findings, Hispanic Americans tend to have lower premature mortality rates than Black and white Americans.
- This could be because the Hispanic population is younger, more diverse, and less likely to engage in risky behaviors like smoking, researchers noted.
Between the lines: Unequal access to primary care and to comprehensive health insurance help perpetuate racial health disparities, the report said.
The bottom line: The Affordable Care Act and other initiatives have narrowed the country's entrenched racial and ethnic health gaps, but there's still a long way to go.
- Abortion bans and the rise of artificial intelligence, among other things, are complicating the work of reversing systemic inequities.
