Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress finds the following: In 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhuman because it often results in physical death. . Inequity in health care remains a persistent and devastating reality for many communities, but, in particular, communities of color. The provision of inequitable health care has complex causes, many stemming from systemic inequality in access to health care, housing, nutrition, economic opportunity, education, and other factors.
Health care outcomes for Black communities in particular lag far behind those of the population as a whole. Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on April 7, 2020, the coronavirus outbreak is shining a bright light on unacceptable health disparities in the Black community. A contributing factor in health disparities is explicit and implicit bias in the delivery of health care, resulting in inferior care and poorer outcomes for some patients on the basis of factors including race, national origin, sex (including sexual orientation or gender identity), disability, age, or religion.
The National Academy of Medicine (formerly known as the Institute of Medicine ) issued a report in 2002 titled Unequal Treatment , finding that racial and ethnic minorities receive lower-quality health care than Whites do, even when insurance status, income, age, and severity of condition is comparable. Just as Congress has sought to eliminate bias, both explicit and implicit, in employment, housing, and other parts of our society, the elimination of bias and the legacy of structural racism in health care is of paramount importance.