diary by Gerry Hudson, Executive Vice President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). SEIU is a cosponsor of the A. Philip Randolph Institute’s (APRI) National Education Conference on health disparities taking place in Oakland, CA from August 1-4.
Opening Night of the Conference:
It’s not new that access to affordable health care (and the lack of it) is a top social, economic, and basic civil rights issue as well as a key challenge for whoever becomes the next president of the United States.
Today, working families in the world’s richest industrialized nation are being forced to choose between medical treatment and poverty, and in some cases, between life and death. In America, medical prognoses are far too often determined not by the quality of care you receive, but rather by the color of your skin. And this week, even our country's poorest children are perilously close to re-joining the rolls of the uninsured as Congress wheels and deals on SCHIP (the State Children's Health Insurance Program) while the clock winds down.
We should be embarrassed.
But there are people trying to change these things. This week, I am joining African American labor leaders and trade unionists, top health organizations, serious community activists, and even celebrities in Oakland to talk about critical problems this country is facing -- particularly African American men, women and children -- as we try to look for solutions to the widespread health care crisis. Unfortunately, too often the issues that get addressed at the national level and in mainstream media coverage skirt around the issue of race and class, and the widening and frankly appalling health disparities between black folks and other Americans get ignored.
I want to share with you just a few disheartening facts that I’ve been hearing:
- The prevalence of diabetes among African Americans is about 70% higher than among white Americans.
- Infant mortality rates are twice as high for African Americans as for white Americans.
- The 5-year survival rate for cancer among African Americans diagnosed for 1986-1992 was about 44%, compared with 59% for white Americans.
- Black people account for 12% of the U.S. population – and make up half of all the country’s AIDS cases. More than any other racial/ethnic group in the U.S., Black Americans account for more HIV and AIDS cases, people estimated to be living with AIDS, and HIV-related deaths.
(With thanks to our good friends at the CDC, Kaiser Permanente, and BlackHealthCare.com)
The racial and economic disparities in health care that we must not ignore demonstrate the sad fact that black workers are more often the victims of substandard health care and preventable illness. Jobs in low-wage, public industries frequently offer no health benefits, and we are increasingly finding that even jobs in private industries with health care just isn’t enough – it’s too expensive and it’s too little. And when people lack basic health care coverage, things like cholesterol screening, mammograms, blood sugar tests and blood pressure monitoring fall by the wayside.
The cost is hundreds of thousands of lives a year. The need for health care reform that takes into account the specific needs of underserved communities is not a political game. In a report by the National Urban League, "The State of Black America," Barack Obama wrote in the forward: "The decisions we make and the challenges we ignore have real consequences for the American people." We need reform that works to close health care disparities and end health care discrimination. We need public attention on a public health problem. That’s why we’re here a the A. Philip Randolph Institute’s National Education Conference are taking time out to carve a new path to closing the most disturbing gaps within our nation’s broken health care system. SEIU is proud to be a part of this effort and we will continue the fight to move health care reform forward in a way that addresses the needs of all Americans.
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With 1.9 million members, SEIU is the fastest-growing union in North America. Focused on uniting workers in three sectors to improve their lives and the services they provide, SEIU is the largest health care union, including hospitals, nursing homes, and home care; the largest property services union, including building cleaning and security; and the second largest public employee union.