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August 2006
In this Issue:
New Resources
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Families USA: New Medicaid Regulations Discriminate against U.S.-Born Children of Immigrants
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The Commonwealth Fund: Health Care Disconnect: Gaps in Coverage and Care for Minority Adults
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The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured: The Role of Employer-Sponsored Health Coverage for Immigrants: A Primer
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The Society for Public Health Education: Health Promotion Practice and Health Education & Behavior (HEB)
Activities in the Field
Policy Updates
Upcoming Events
Families USA has published a new Minority Health Focus brief, New Medicaid Regulations Discriminate against U.S.-Born Children of Immigrants, which calls attention to a specific provision in the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) that unfairly targets children born to immigrant mothers.
The Commonwealth Fund released a report entitled Health Care Disconnect: Gaps in Coverage and Care for Minority Adults. An Analysis of the Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey (2005). This analysis finds that the uninsured rates for Hispanic and African American adults are one-and-a-half to three times greater than the rate for white adults.
The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured has published The Role of Employer-Sponsored Health Coverage for Immigrants: A Primer in both English and Spanish. The primer examines the role of employer-based coverage for immigrants and the specific hurdles they face in obtaining this coverage.
The Society for Public Health Education has published two special edition journals, Health Promotion Practice and Health Education & Behavior (HEB), that focus on approaches to reducing racial and ethnic health disparities. The August 2006 issue of HEB includes several articles encouraging a multi-disciplinary approach to addressing the cultural, economic, political, and social factors that contribute to racial and ethnic health disparities. The July 2006 issue of Health Promotion Practice examines how approaches to funding, politics, and policy can affect health disparities.
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National African American Drug Policy Coalition, Inc. Promotes Increased Medical and Public Health Approach to Dealing with Substance Use Disorders
The National African American Drug Policy Coalition (The Coalition) was created in April 2004 with the principal purpose of educating the public and policymakers about the fact that drug addiction is a disease—one that frequently occurs in conjunction with mental and emotional disorders. Because these conditions frequently occur simultaneously, The Coalition advocates a medical and public health approach to substance abuse treatment as an alternative to criminal prosecution and incarceration (to the greatest extent that this option is consistent with public safety).
One set of issues that is of particular concern to The Coalition is the disparities in access to health care based on race, poverty, and employment that prevent many African Americans from receiving insurance coverage for appropriate medical treatment of substance abuse and co-occurring mental health issues.
In working with policymakers, The Coalition urges that:
- Funding be increased for comprehensive treatment of addiction as well as mental and emotional problems, including funding for sufficient supportive services in the community to prevent relapses in substance abuse and criminal activities.
- Funding be increased to expand the availability of such services for a larger populace.
- Drug treatment be made available on demand where screening and assessment indicate the need, as such treatment should not be restricted to people arrested with pending criminal charges.
In addition to its educational efforts, The Coalition advocates to youth with presentations that describe the great need for African American youth to begin careers in medicine, public health, and other related health fields to increase the availability of services to disempowered segments of our population and to eliminate the health care disparities that still exist.
For further information on The National African American Drug Policy Coalition, please contact Senior Judge Arthur L. Burnett, Sr., National Executive Director, at Howard University School of Law at 202-806-8600 or 806-8622 or at Aburnettsr@aol.com. Information can also be obtained online at www.naadpc.org.
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With Congress out of session this month, most legislative activity has been put on hold until after Labor Day. But minority health advocates have several major battles on the horizon that they should start preparing for soon. For example, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which has proven to be an extremely effective tool for closing the racial and ethnic disparities gap in children’s access to health care, will come up for reauthorization in 2007. Taken together, Medicaid and SCHIP provided health care coverage to about 30 million children at some point during the year (in 2003, the most recent year for which data are available). With parental employer-based coverage on the decline, Medicaid and SCHIP play a crucial role in making sure children continue to have access to affordable health care. In fact, the number of uninsured children in the United States actually has decreased over the last several years, in large part due to the success of public programs.
Despite these coverage expansions, however, racial and ethnic minority children continue to be hugely overrepresented among the uninsured population. For example, while only about 42 percent of children are racial and ethnic minorities, such children comprise more than 60 percent of uninsured children overall. At the same time, Medicaid and SCHIP play a particularly important role in the lives of minority children, providing health coverage to nearly half of African American children and more than a third of Latino children. Because of the importance of these programs, it is crucial that Congress increase funding for SCHIP in 2007 as part of a broader effort to advance the health disparities agenda and improve health care for all kids. We will send along important updates in the coming months, but in the meantime, you can learn more about the importance of health insurance for children—including its role in reducing disparities—by visiting the Campaign for Children’s Health Care.
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- The Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust is hosting its Fall Braintrust, entitled African American Health – In Need of Intensive Care: Renewing and Expanding the Call for a State of Emergency, at the Annual Legislative Conference on September 8, 2006. The conference will be held at the Washington Convention Center, Room 202 B, in Washington, DC. For more information on this event, please contact Britt Weinstock at britt.weinstock@mail.house.gov.
- The Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum is hosting the 2006 Asian American and Pacific Islander Health Summit, Two Decades, One Mission: United for AAPI Health, from September 14-16, 2006, in the San Jose Marriott Hotel in San Jose, California. This Summit will celebrate 20 years of the AAPI health movement, as well as develop an action agenda for AAPI health. For more information on this summit, please contact healthsummit@apiahf.org.
- The National Minority AIDS Council is hosting the 2006 U.S. Conference on AIDS from September 21-25, 2006, at the Westin Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood, Florida. For more information, call 202-483-6622 ext. 343.
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We’d like to hear from you!
If you would like to see your organization or event highlighted in a future edition of our newsletter, please send us a brief description of your organization and its activities, as well as your contact information. We also welcome guest authors for the Activities in the Field section of the newsletter. This section provides members of the minority health field with the opportunity to share their experiences and insights with other advocates. Please send all correspondence to: minorityhealth@familiesusa.org.
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