Health News

Tackling health inequity? It's about changing the dynamics of political power

Kendall Alexander — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:49:50 -0500

March 1, 2010 The Crikey Health Blog

Continuing the Croakey series on health inequalities, Marilyn Wise, manager of the healthy public policy team at the Centre for Health Equity Research Training and Evaluation (CHETRE) at UNSW, suggests that there are several possible ways forward.

Congressional Black Caucus calls for more racial equality in health care reform

Kendall Alexander — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:38:09 -0500

February 25, 2010

In twin letters sent to President Barack Obama and top Democratic congressional leaders in advance of today's White House health-care summit, the Congressional Black Caucus is appealing for tougher efforts to reduce racial disparities in the health system.

Michelle Obama speaks frankly about race

Kendall Alexander — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:29:51 -0500

Politico February 19, 2010

In tackling the problem of childhood obesity, first lady Michelle Obama is doing something that her husband rarely does - talking about an issue bluntly in terms of race and helping urban America.

She is, some say, filling a role that Barack Obama seems less inclined to fill, serving as a kind of bridge from the White House to black America in much the same way that she functioned during the campaign, observers said.

NEWS RELEASE: Obama Administration Details Healthy Food Financing Initiative

Kendall Alexander — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:34:06 -0500

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services February 19, 2010

Insurer Delays Rate Increase in California

Kendall Alexander — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:36:05 -0500

Wall Street Journal February 14, 2010

Health insurer Anthem Blue Cross will postpone its much-criticized plan to raise rates for some California residents who buy insurance on their own, after reaching a deal Saturday with state regulators.

Anthem's planned rate increase, which the state estimates would affect about 700,000 customers, averaged 25% and would have been as high as 39% for some.

Jacksonville agencies urge citizens to take up movement of health equity

Kendall Alexander — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:37:36 -0500

Jacksonville News January 25, 2010

They want people to stand up and demand better.

Better access to healthy foods, cleaner neighborhoods and more affordable health care - to name a few things.

In another era, they might have been called agitators. But now the ideas of social justice and health equity have become so mainstream that the movement's leaders are familiar names: the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission and the Duval County Health Department.

Black Journalists' Group to Hold Conference on African-American Health and Health Care Disparities

Kendall Alexander — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:33:29 -0500

January 20, 2010 PR Newswire

Urban Food Deserts Threaten Children's Health

Kendall Alexander — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 10:53:01 -0500

January 4, 2010 The Huffington Post

Black Caucus to press for public option in final health care bill

Kendall Alexander — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:09:47 -0500

Tri-State Defender December 30, 2009

WASHINGTON - As U.S. Senators and members of the House of Representatives prepare to negotiate to combine the two distinctly different health care bills, members of the Congressional Black Caucus are vowing once again to push for a public option to make the final bill affordable for their largely African-American and low income constituencies.

Health Care Disparities at Core of Sen. Sanders’ Vote

Kendall Alexander — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:00:08 -0500

New America Media December 30, 2009

Though an Independent, Vermont Sen. Bernard Sanders extracted a $10 billion expansion of community health centers from his legislative peers in exchange for his support for the Senate's version of the health care bill last week. The senator was one of the last holdouts the Democrats needed to secure a 60-vote majority necessary to move the legislation forward.

Race health toll studied — Partnership to examine disparities in care

Kendall Alexander — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:40:33 -0500

Insurance US December 26, 2009

A consortium of local organizations will study race-related health disparities in the Memphis area with a new $1.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

The funds will come from the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities division of the NIH. The research will focus on health disparities connected to race and other social factors.

Commentary: Access to care, healthy food the keys to health

Kendall Alexander — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:51:36 -0500

December 13, 2009 The Tennesseean

Central to the debate about health-care reform is a near-universal political consensus that we can control health-care costs by preventing disease and living more healthy lives. A PriceWaterhouseCoopers study recently found that preventable obesity and poor nutrition cost the U.S. more than $500 billion a year - five times the annual cost of providing universal health insurance.