Quality of Care - House Strategy Meeting

health care Disparities Meeting, March 23, 2004

In a meeting held yesterday in the Capitol with members of the House Democratic Leader’s staff and representatives from the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, staff members made an appeal for support of their bill H.R.3459/S.1833. Contrasting this bill with S.2217, sponsored by Senator Bill Frist (R-TN), the Democrats claimed a greater focus on racial and ethnic minorities as opposed to socio-economic minorities. They condemned the focus of the Frist bill on poor rural whites over more traditional minority groups, and cited Republicans’ consistent tendency to focus on socio-economic minorities, especially in the Medicare Reform Act of 2003. They also mentioned the support of Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry for the Democratic Bill, and encouraged groups to endorse their version of the bill.

The Democratic Staff acknowledged that it is unlikely that any substantive bill will be passed in this election year, but stated that the party is seeking to raise momentum for a health care disparities bill in view of introducing a bill at the beginning of the next Congress. To this end, they asked that attending organizations highlight health care disparities in their publications and on websites; include a focus on health care disparities in their activities, especially if participating in the National Public Health Week; and to contact members about their interest in a bill.

Also in attendance were representatives from the American Public Health Association (APHA) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The APHA representative spoke about the upcoming National Public Health Week, and its events relating to health care disparities. The IOM representative spoke of a recent IOM study “In the Nation’s Compelling Interest: Ensuring Diversity in the Health Care Workforce” addressing the importance of having a diverse population of health care workers to eliminating disparities in care. The report can be accessed at http://www.iom.edu/report.asp?id=18287.