Hillary Clinton Campaign Press Release - Clinton Health Plan Will Provide Quality Health Care and Coverage for All African Americans

Clinton Health Plan Will Reduce Health Disparities

ARLINGTON, VA - Millions of African Americans will benefit from the American Health Choices Plan released this week by Senator Hillary Clinton. The Democratic presidential candidate's health plan provides comprehensive health care for all Americans, reduces health care costs for working families and strengthens the safety net for low income Americans. Under the plan, 7.7 million African Americans without health insurance will receive high quality, affordable care.

Senator Clinton's health plan will vastly improve access to preventive measures that slow the onset of diseases, as well as allow millions of African Americans access to better medical care. African Americans suffer disproportionately from chronic illnesses, such as diabetes certain cancers and heart disease.

"My plan will address health disparities by providing preventive, affordable, high quality care for all African Americans," said Hillary Clinton.

Under the American Health Choices Plan, tax credits will be available to help working families cover healthcare costs and insurance companies will no longer be permitted to deny coverage for a pre-existing or genetic condition. For people who change jobs, under the Clinton plan they will not lose their healthcare coverage.

Specifically, the plan will:

• Allow everyone who is satisfied with their health care to keep it;
• Provide new options for those who are not insured or are not satisfied with their insurance;
• End insurance discrimination; and
• Allow consumers to keep their health coverage if they change jobs

Senator Clinton said that her health plan will address health disparities that strike many African Americans. Senator Clinton said that her health plan will address health disparities that strike many African Americans. She has the strength and experience to bring about the change that is needed to improve the quality of health care and coverage for African Americans.

The following report is one in a series that the campaign will release to demonstrate how Clinton's American Health Choices Plan will impact various communities.

The American Health Choices Plan:
Ensuring African Americans Get the Care They Need

Guaranteed Health Care Coverage for All African Americans

If you are one of the seven million seven hundred thousand African Americans without health insurance, this plan will provide high quality health care coverage at a cost you can afford. You will be able to buy into the same health insurance program Members of Congress receive, which includes plans that cover prevention services that significantly increase the chance of catching diseases early, as well as mental health services and dental care in most cases. You will also have access to a new public option like Medicare.

If you are one of the 18.4 million African Americans with employer-sponsored coverage, this plan will provide you with more security, and allow you to pay less and receive higher quality coverage. You will no longer have to worry about losing your coverage if you change jobs, and you will not be denied coverage based on a pre-existing or genetic condition. Insurance companies will have to renew each plan at an affordable price. Coverage will also be portable for those who change jobs, but want to maintain the same plan through the new menu of health choices.

If you are part of the 45 percent of African American children or the 19 percent of African American adults participating in the Children's Health Insurance Program or Medicaid, this plan will fix the holes in the safety net to ensure that you receive affordable, quality care. Public hospitals and community health centers will also continue to receive support to serve vulnerable populations. Twenty five percent of African American men are uninsured and 21 percent do not have a usual source of health insurance, in part, because they are not eligible for Medicaid. This plan will expand Medicaid eligibility to childless adults.

Universal Coverage: Our Best Weapon Against Racial Health Disparities. Senator Clinton's plan to ensure universal health coverage is vital to closing the disturbing racial and ethnic health disparities that are pervasive throughout our health care system. On virtually every measure of health and well-being, African Americans fare worse than whites. African Americans are less likely to have health insurance, receive lower quality care, are more likely to have many chronic diseases and injuries, and are more likely to die prematurely.

• The infant mortality and disease-related mortality rates are almost twice as high for African Americans as they are for whites (13.6 vs. 5.7 and 49.2 vs. 23, respectively).
• African Americans are twice as likely as whites to have diabetes.
• African Americans develop cancer at a higher rate than any other racial or ethnic group. African Americans have the highest cancer death rate than any other racial or ethnic group.
• The AIDS case rate is ten times higher among Black Americans that whites (68.7 out of every 100,000 vs. 6.9 for whites).
• African Americans are less likely to be diagnosed as having depression and, once diagnosed, less likely to receive antidepressants and more likely to receive cheaper, less effective medications.
• Blacks are more likely to die of heart disease than any other racial or ethnic group.
• About one-third (36%) of African American adults visited an emergency room for a condition that could have been treated by a regular doctor if one had been available, compared to 19% of Hispanics and whites.
• African American men have the highest death rate of any racial or ethnic group.

While many factors, such as the environment, contribute to the disparities in health outcomes, no factor matters more than access to health insurance. Health disparities mirror disparities in coverage: one fifth of African-Americans are uninsured compared with one in ten whites, and one quarter of African American men lacked health insurance in 2005.

Lower Cost and Better Care for African American Families and Businesses

In addition to tacking these coverage gaps, Senator Clinton's plan will offer improved quality and lower costs for the millions of African American families who are under-insured today.

Closing the Quality Gap - Among African Americans who have insurance, it's likely to be lower quality. Only half of black women have employer-based health care compared with two thirds of white women. Nearly a third of African American women experience gaps in their health care coverage over the course of a year compared with less than a quarter of white women. Because of barriers to quality private coverage, African Americans are also more likely to rely on public programs. Close to twenty percent of non-elderly African Americans are enrolled in Medicaid. Forty-five percent of African American children participate in Medicaid - twice the rate of Medicaid coverage of white children. By offering new quality healthcare choices to all Americans, while strengthening our public programs like Medicaid and SCHIP, Senator Clinton's plan will work to close these quality gaps.

Affordable Coverage - Premiums have skyrocketed over the last several years - nearly double since 2000 while incomes have remained stagnant and disparities between African Americans and whites persist. The average income in African American households today is roughly $31,900 compared with $50,700 for whites. In order to ensure that quality health care is affordable, Hillary's plan creates a premium affordability tax credit that will ensure that no family has to choose between the mortgage and their healthcare bills. [Working families will receive a refundable tax credit to help them afford high-quality health coverage.

Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care - In 2003, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) found "that racial, ethnic and socioeconomic disparities are national problems that affect health care at all points in the process, at all sites of care, and for all medical conditions - in fact, disparities are pervasive in our health care system." Hillary's plan requires the development and testing of quality measures for use by doctors, hospitals, nursing homes and other providers targeted at eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in health care. It directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop a uniform reporting format for the collection of quality information on race and ethnicity, so that we can know the full extent of the problem and measure our progress in addressing it. It provides $50 million in federal funding for the development of culturally and linguistically competent clinical care programs, to ensure that our healthcare providers can communicate with their patients and have training and skills to fully understand and respect cultural differences in the patients they serve. The plan addresses diversity and cultural competency in the healthcare workforce by providing opportunities and incentives to encourage greater diversity in our health care workforce through recruitment initiatives, scholarships and loan-forgiveness programs.

Support for Small Businesses - The American Health Choices Plan recognizes the important role small businesses play in generating new jobs, particularly among African Americans. Small businesses have created 80% of new jobs since 1990. Between 1997 and 2004, the number of small businesses owned by African American women grew by 33% and employment at those firms grew by 50%. The number owned by African American men rose 29% between 1997 and 2002, according to a study by the Small Business Administration. Yet because small businesses employ fewer people and have less purchasing power, health insurance tends to be more expensive for small businesses and fewer are able to make this benefit available. Under this plan, small businesses who provide high quality health insurance will receive a significant tax credit (e.g. covering 50 percent of premiums). This will increase the competitiveness of small businesses and expand access to employer-based health coverage for African Americans.

Better Care for the Chronically Ill - The American Health Choices Plan will promote innovative chronic care management programs to help those with diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and more, which are more prevalent among African Americans. The American Health Choices Plan will ensure higher quality and better coordination of care by using state-of-the-art chronic care coordination models and innovative models, such as "medical homes," within federally-funded programs to provide care for Americans afflicted with these costly, multi-faceted illnesses. According to a recent study from the Commonwealth Fund, a delivery system such as the "medical home" model of care shows great promise for eliminating racial disparities. This plan also creates a new Best Practices Institute, which will work as a partnership between the private sector and the already existing Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to fund research on the effectiveness of alternative treatments such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and surgeries.

A Focus on Prevention - Only half of recommended clinical preventive services are provided to adults and less than half of adults had their doctors provide them advice on weight, nutrition, or exercise. Only 38 percent of adults receive recommended colorectal screening. Hypertension contributes to 35 percent of all heart disease and dramatically increases the risk of stroke, yet only one in three people with this condition know it, despite simple, proven screening tests. African Americans are at the highest risk for hypertension of any ethnic or racial group. The American Health Choices Plan requires coverage of preventive services that experts agree are proven and effective.