The role of the federal government in eliminating health disparities

Abstract

Minorities live sicker and die sooner from too many acute and chronic illnesses. To eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health, Congress and the Bush administration must address the serious challenge of increasing minorities' access to health care and improving the quality of care they receive. We clearly need to expand Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), but we must also develop and train culturally competent providers, increase the diversity of the health care workforce, collect better race/ethnicity health data, and make a greater investment in public health.