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November 2006
New Resources
Activities in the Field
Policy Updates
Medicare Part D
Upcoming Events
The Joint Center Health Policy Institute's Dellums Commission released a report entitled A Way Out: Creating Partners for Our Nation's Prosperity by Expanding Life Paths of Young Men of Color. The report analyzes policies that affect the health of young men of color and their communities. It also offers a multifaceted policy agenda to address a range of critical issues in the areas of health, education, family support and child welfare, workforce and economic development, juvenile and criminal justice, and the media.
The Urban Health Cast posted a new webcast symposium, Disparities and Unmet Needs for Treatment and Diagnosis, featuring speakers from the Center for Substance Abuse and the National Center for Behavioral Change.
The Alliance for Health Reform recently released an issue brief, Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care. The brief reviews the types of disparities minority populations face, several programs designed to reduce disparities, and proposals for future action. Also included is a list of expert sources with telephone numbers and helpful Web sites.
The Applied Research Center released three reports in response to recent U.S. Census data documenting a growing racial divide in the country. The reports grade legislators on their efforts to move forward innovative solutions to this growing problem. The reports grade lawmakers in California, Illinois, and Minnesota. Links to all three reports, as well as news articles covering their release, can be found on the ColorLines blog.
RAND has released a new study, "Immigrants and the Cost of Medical Care," in Health Affairs. The study documents the low health care costs associated with undocumented immigrants. It estimates that, in the United States, about $1.1 billion in federal, state, and local government funds are spent annually on health care for undocumented immigrants ages 18 to 64, which amounts to an average of $11 in taxes for each U.S. household.
The Connecticut Health Foundation has released a report, Estimates for the Cost of Interpretation Services for Connecticut Medicaid Recipients, that estimates the cost of, and need for, medical interpretation services for Connecticut's Medicaid enrollees.
The Kaiser Family Foundation has posted a webcast from the 2006 TriCaucus Health Summit: The Power of Many: Putting Unity in Community.
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The Ongoing Covenant with Black Iowa
The Minority Health Initiatives Department at Families USA recently had the opportunity to meet with religious leaders, health advocates, and leaders from the minority health field in Des Moines, Iowa for a training designed to engage the faith community around the role that public programs play in reducing health disparities. The group that convened for this day-long meeting was highly motivated to eradicate health disparities through social action.
Reverend Abraham Funchess of the Iowa Commission on the Status of African Americans (ICSAA), who is both a leader in the faith community and a human rights advocate, spoke early in the day about the role of religious leaders in fighting health disparities and the need for community engagement in addressing such social injustices. His presentation cited the many health inequities experienced by minorities in Iowa, including doubled rates of infant mortality in the African American population compared to whites, and minorities' increased rates of death and disease from a variety of conditions, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, HIV/ AIDS, and mental illness.
Reverent Funchess called on community leaders to become familiar not only with these statistics, but with the stories of those who are actually suffering in their communities. These stories put a human face on the numbers and can serve as a powerful advocacy tool. He also urged community leaders to become proactive by developing a vision and a plausible method by which people can get involved in the political process, empowering them to have an impact on issues that touch them every day.
The vision put forth by ICSAA under the direction of Reverend Funchess is called the Ongoing Covenant with Black Iowa (OCBI). OCBI is a strategic planning model that will be used by communities across Iowa to facilitate communication between community stakeholders, ICSAA, and the state government. Through OCBI, ICSAA encourages each community to identify the issues of most concern to them, whether they are health care, education, housing, economic development, or any other social issue, and guides them through an action planning process to empower African Americans in Iowa. ICSAA plans to serve as a resource by providing technical assistance throughout this process. The final goal is to organize the action plans from across the state in a strategic manner that allows the merging of local and state goals to help create programs, policies, and legislation that will improve the quality of life for Iowa's African American population.
To learn more about the recent faith leader training and Families USA's ongoing work to engage faith leaders around racial and ethnic health disparities, contact Briana Webster-Patterson at 202-628-3030 or by e-mail at minorityhealth@familiesusa.org. For more information on the Iowa Commission on the Status of African Americans or the Ongoing Covenant with Black Iowa, contact Abraham Funchess at Abraham.Funchess@iowa.gov.
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Medicare Part D
Health care advocates can expect renewed attention to the Medicare Part D program in the coming year following the outcome of the 2006 congressional elections. The new Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has already promised to revisit legislation that currently prohibits Medicare from bargaining with drug companies to obtain lower prices for seniors. The next year also offers new opportunities to focus attention on racial and ethnic disparities in access to comprehensive, affordable drug coverage through Medicare.
When the 2007 Part D plans were introduced earlier this year, it was clear that the current system continues to be enormously complicated, confusing, and ineffective at making prescription drugs affordable for seniors. The open enrollment period for 2007 started on November 15 and lasts until December 31, 2006. While some seniors might have thought they were done figuring out which Part D plan was best for them after enrolling earlier this year, in fact, many will need to go through the same process all over again before the enrollment period ends. This is because some Part D plans have dropped out of the program, while many others will charge higher premiums, cover different drugs, or charge higher copayments than they did in 2006. In addition, the coverage gap—or "doughnut hole"—will grow from $2,850 in 2006 to $3,051 in 2007. A recent Families USA report found that more than 6.6 million Medicare beneficiaries will not have access to a stand-alone drug plan in 2007 that fills the gap in prescription drug coverage for the most commonly prescribed drugs for seniors.
Racial and ethnic minorities with Medicare coverage have much at stake with the new prescription drug program. According to a 2002 survey of Medicare beneficiaries, about 43 percent of African Americans and 37 percent of Latinos went without prescription drug coverage for at least part of the year. Now many of these individuals are eligible to enroll in a private Part D plan. There is no data, however, to show how many seniors from communities of color have enrolled in a Part D plan and now have affordable drug coverage because of the program.
Before Part D, Medicaid was the largest source of drug coverage for racial and ethnic minorities in Medicare (these beneficiaries are often referred to as “dual eligibles,” since they qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid). After Part D was created, dual eligibles were all moved from Medicaid drug coverage and placed into private Part D plans. Despite being automatically enrolled, many dual eligibles experienced serious disruptions in their drug coverage in 2006, and it is possible that some will experience coverage disruptions again in 2007. If such problems occur, they will disproportionately affect individuals from communities of color.
Looking to next year, it is important that minority health advocates continue to request more accurate data about the enrollment of racial and ethnic minorities in Part D. The best way to evaluate the successes and shortcomings of the Medicare drug program is to understand how it works for those who need it the most.
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- The Disparities Solution Center will facilitate a conference call on November 28, 2006, from 3:00-4:00 PM EST. Drs. Amal Trivedi, John Ayanian, and Alan Zaslavsky will present and discuss the findings of their recent JAMA article, Relationship Between Quality of Care and Racial Disparities within Medicare Health Plans. The Disparities Solution Center will also host a call on December 5, 2006, from 3:00-4:00 PM EST featuring Paul Van de Water and Bruce Vladeck, who will discuss the findings and recommendations of the recent National Academy of Social Insurance Report, Strengthening Medicare's Role in Reducing Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. To register for either call, please e-mail disparitiessolutions@partners.org.
- Indiana Latino Institute will host "Improving Access for Latinos in Health Care: Designing Strategies that Work in Our Communities," a workshop to discuss overcoming cultural and linguistic barriers in local communities. The workshop will be held in Indianapolis on December 1, 2006, from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. For more information, please call 317-472-1055.
- The American Cancer Society is calling for abstracts for podium and poster presentations for their disparities conference, Bridging the Health Care Divide: Research and Programs to Eliminate Cancer Disparities. The conference will be held April 18-20, 2007, at the New Orleans Marriot in New Orleans, LA. The submission deadline for abstracts is December 15, 2006.
- Families USA is pleased to announce that we will offer a new minority health track at Health Action 2007, our annual grassroots advocacy conference. The track will include sessions on advancing the health disparities agenda and building a movement; state activities to improve minority health and reduce disparities; incorporating policy and legislative advocacy into health disparities work; dispelling myths surrounding immigrants and reframing the issue of immigrant health; and policies and practices related to cultural competence and language access. The conference will take place from January 25-27, 2006, in Washington, D.C. For more information, please contact Rea Pañares at 202-628-3030 or via e-mail at minorityhealth@familiesusa.org.
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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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