The Henry K Kaiser Family Foundation
110th Congress Proposed Initiatives to Address Minority Health Disparities

As more Americans continue to face the difficult reality of paying an electric bill or purchasing prescriptions, a higher percentage of minority families are faced with these decisions.  Health care disparities are growing crises for minority families across the United States.  In order to address this problem, Congress has introduced bills that deal with the dire needs of access to and adequate health care coverage of services.

Although the 110th Congress is only about half-way through, the number of bills introduced that include some attention to “health disparities” is about the same as introduced in the entire 109th Congress.  The Henry K. Kaiser Family Foundation compiled a compendium that summarizes federal legislative efforts introduced in the 110th Congress that focus on addressing racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care. While a number of bills introduced this year may have an impact on health disparities and/or affect minority health, the goal of this compendium is to highlight legislation that specifically addresses racial and ethnic health disparities. About a dozen such bills have been introduced in the 110th Congress, including the Minority Health Improvement and Health Disparity Elimination Act and the Office of Men’s Health Act of 2007.

For more information and copy of the compendium, call The Henry K Kaiser Family Foundation at (650) 854-9400

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