The
Ways and Means Committee recently released a report, Something Must Change:
Inequities in U.S. Policy and Society, along with a new
legislative framework, A Bold Vision for a
Legislative Pathway Toward Health and Economic Equity,
outlining how the Committee will address the connection between racism and
health and economic inequity in the United States. The report emphasized
how the COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on older adults,
those with disabilities and chronic conditions, and communities of color. The
report also highlighted a concern that the Center for Medicare Advocacy has
also been wary of – that an increased reliance on telehealth during the
pandemic could exacerbate some inequities, particularly for patients with poor
digital literacy and for those with limited English proficiency (LEP).
The
report found that in order to address the inequities exposed, and often
worsened, by the pandemic, the structural racism underlying these inequities
must be identified and addressed.
Thus, the pandemic has been as indiscriminate in its ability to
infect as it has been in magnifying the degree to which systems and structures
across sectors fail to adequately address the needs of communities with higher
concentrations of people from the same socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic
groups. The key to rectifying the sources of these failures is in naming and
clarifying root causes and practical responses that best serve those whose
actual needs have long been invisible to race-neutral policies.
The
legislative framework includes Health Equity and Economic Equity Pillars, with
sets of policy priorities under each pillar, including Adaptable, Accessible
Technologies and Modernized Infrastructure, Affordable, Comprehensive, and
Accessible Health Care, and Retirement Security. These documents follow the
2020 Ways and Means report Left Out: Barriers to
Health Equity for Rural and Underserved Communities
More information:
- CMA Alert on the 2020 Ways and Means report, available at: Administration Proposes Permanent and Temporary
Extensions of Pandemic-Related Medicare Telehealth – Growing Disparities
and Other Concerns Remain (medicareadvocacy.org)
- CMA Alert on recent study on telehealth, available at: Study Finds Inequities in Telehealth Care | Center
for Medicare Advocacy
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