Political Quotes

“I am proud to once again introduce legislation addressing the health care disparities in racial and ethnic minority communities, the Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2012. I would like to thank my cosponsor, Senator Inouye, along with a number of our colleagues in the House of Representatives, for all their support and contributions to this important legislation, and for raising awareness of this widespread problem. While there are glaring health disparities based on racial and ethnic identity alone, they are further exacerbated by factors such as socioeconomics, geography, and sexual orientation and identity. Although the exact causes for the current state of health disparities in our country may be debatable, it is undeniable that ethnic, racial, geographic, and other minorities across the United States are plagued by disproportionately high rates of disease and experience a diminished quality of health care. Statistics paint a disturbing picture of minority health, consistently showing higher rates of illness and death for members of minority and marginalized groups. For instance, HIV/AIDS has had a devastating impact on minorities in the U.S. In 2009, ethnic minorities accounted for over 70 percent of newly diagnosed cases of HIV. That year, nine out of ten babies born with HIV belonged to minority groups.…”