EQUITY AND WHY IT MATTERS
What Is Health Equity?
Health equity is the attainment of the highest level of health for all people, regardless of their background or socioeconomic status, by addressing systemic disparities and ensuring fair access to resources and health care.
The Benefits of Health Equity
The benefits of health equity include improved overall public health outcomes, reduced healthcare costs, increased productivity and economic growth, enhanced social cohesion and justice, and a fairer, more inclusive society.
An equitable healthcare system guarantees quality care for everyone, addressing disparities, eliminating barriers to access, emphasizing prevention and social determinants of health, and engaging diverse stakeholders to reduce health care inequalities.
An inequitable health care system results in unequal access to quality care, leading to disparities in health outcomes among various groups due to systemic barriers, discrimination, and unequal distribution of resources.
A CORE FOCUS AREA
One of Families USA’s most important social justice missions is health equity: building a nation where no one faces barriers to a healthy life because of who they are or where they live.
To achieve this goal, we are working with a highly diverse coalition of partners, including people of color, people with disabilities, rural communities, ethnic communities, and others to create a policy agenda to address inequities. We also are increasingly focused on addressing the social determinants of health by exploring upstream approaches, such as those employing community health worker models that protect and improve health, thereby preventing the need for medical care.
FAMILIES USA’S COVERAGE GOALS
accessible to everyone.
Every child, every family, every individual should have access to quality, affordable health care to achieve health and their full potential.
affordable to everyone.
Our health should not depend on our wealth. Comprehensive health insurance coverage is critical to making sure that we do not have to make impossible choices between medical care and things like putting food on the table.
high quality and includes
the services needed to
promote health.
Having access to and being able to afford health insurance means nothing if it not comprehensive enough to address people’s needs.
comprehensive health
insurance.
This includes working in a nonpartisan manner with community leaders, policymakers, and stakeholders to identify innovative ways to to ensure health insurance works for all people in the nation.
HIGH-QUALITY
SYSTEM
THE CURRENT U.S. HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
The Problem
Our health care system is low-quality. Learn more.
The Solution
How to make our health care system high-quality. Learn more.
5 RECENT BIG WINS ON THE PATH TO HIGH¬QUALITY CARE
South Dakota ballot initiative approves Medicaid expansion.*
South Dakota ballot initiative is the latest state effort to approve Medicaid expansion. South Dakotans’ passing expansion at the beginning of November is the crowning achievement of Families USA 2022 Medicaid work. Approximately 42,500 South Dakotans will be newly eligible for Medicaid coverage once implemented next year. Families USA consistently provided stakeholders on the ground with messaging and guidance on refuting anti-expansion rhetoric, which our partners used frequently.
*State Medicaid expansion is happening continuously across the country. It has been, and will continue to be, a key element of insuring high-quality coverage for all families.
The Inflation Reduction Act Is Passed
There were major improvements in federal private coverage subsidies for middle- and low-income families during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are now working to extend those subsidies past the end of public health emergency. The Inflation Reduction Act was a major step in that direction; however, its subsidies will expire at the end of 2025. There is still a need for more permanent improvements.
Medicare Coverage of Oral Health
We are at the heart of federal advocacy to expand Medicare coverage of oral health. We continue to work at both the state and federal level to extend coverage to more people, and to make coverage affordable and comprehensive.
Enactment of the Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act allowed states to provide Medicaid to families with income up to 133% of poverty, helped millions of middle income families afford private insurance, and provided numerous health insurance rights and protections.
Enactment of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act gave people new health insurance protections when they changed jobs so they wouldn’t be subject to preexisting condition exclusions.
key resources
Free COVID-19 Vaccines and Treatments are Here: Why America’s Families Keep Paying
04.15.2021 / Issue Brief
