People of Color

People of color in Illinois, particularly African and Hispanic Americans, are uninsured at higher rates than their white counterparts, are more likely to work for an employer that does not offer affordable health coverage, and as a result, generally have more health problems and die younger.

Fact:  29 percent of Hispanics living in Illinois are uninsured compared with 10.5 percent of whites.¹

Fact:  23 percent of African-Americans in Illinois are uninsured.²

Fact:  African-Americans have a 13 percent greater chance of dying from heart disease than whites, and die from diabetes twice the rate whites.³

What can we do about it?

Promote policies that increase employer-based insurance

Since African-Americans and Hispanics are more likely to work for employers that do not offer affordable health benefits, policies which offer incentives to employers to provide health benefits will benefit many working people of color.

Cultural Competency training for health professionals

Utilize "cultural competence" guidelines, which attempt to standardize health care professionals' training to help them understand and interact with a diverse patient population.

Multi-lingual health care

Ensure regular access to translation services. For instance, Temple University Health System in Philadelphia received a grant to create a program, called "Hablamos Juntos," Spanish for "We speak together." This program integrates certified medical interpreters into hospital settings and compiles an online database of bilingual health-education materials.

Five states -- Hawaii, Maine, Minnesota, Utah and Washington -- receive federal funds to cover translation services for some Medicaid beneficiaries.

Programs to increase health professional training for people of color

Roughly 6.5 percent of medical school enrollees last year were African-Americans or Hispanics. Yet, these groups are projected to make up 14.7 percent and 24.3 percent of the population respectively in 2050. We should expand programs and opportunities that train health professionals of color.

Improved access to primary care in underserved areas

The number of health professionals in urban and rural areas varies widely. Often there are too few health professionals to care for urban and rural populations, which have a larger concentration of people of color. We should expand programs that give incentives to health professionals working in underserved areas.

Increase Medicaid Reimbursement Rates

While 6 percent of whites in Illinois get health care through Medicaid, 22 percent of African-Americans and 11 percent of Hispanics in Illinois get their health care through the Medicaid program. The rate that health professionals are reimbursed for medical procedures directly impacts Medicaid recipients' access to care. Often, payment rates to doctors are so low that doctors limit the number of Medicaid patients they see, thus limiting access to care.