California has made great strides in improving our health care system, and now more than 91 percent of our residents have health insurance.
However, coverage does not guarantee health and significant racial inequities persist. For example, in California, Latinos and African Americans have twice the prevalence of type-2 diabetes and are twice as likely to die from the disease. The prevalence of asthma among American Indians and Alaska Natives is three times greater than the state average and African Americans are four times more likely to be hospitalized or visit the emergency room for asthma related reasons. Approximately one in 10 American Indians and Alaskan Natives, African Americans and Latinos experienced serious psychological distress in the past year.
Now is the time for California to finish the job of improving our health care system by embracing health equity and ensuring communities have the opportunity to be healthy.
[For more on this story by Kiran Savage-Sangwan, go to http://www.calhealthreport.org/2019/03/21/we-have-a-vision-for-health-equity-in-california/]
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