Minority Coalition: Democrats Fail Minority Families In America

MORE FACTS:

African Americans

• In 2004, 21.3 percent of nonelderly African Americans (7.15 million) were uninsured, compared to 13.1 percent of nonelderly whites.¹

• Although more than 80 percent of African Americans live in working families, only 53 percent are covered by employer-sponsored health insurance, compared to 73 percent of whites.²

• Among uninsured African Americans, 80 percent live below 300 percent of the federal poverty level ($28,710 for an individual, $48,270 for a family of three in 2005), compared to 82.9 percent of uninsured Latinos and 64.4 percent of uninsured non-Latino whites.³

• Compared to whites, African Americans had worse access to care for about 40 percent of access measures, including lacking health insurance or a source of ongoing health care, having problems getting a referral to a specialist, and rating their health care poorly.⁴

Latinos

• In 2004, 34.2 percent of nonelderly Latinos (13.6 million) were uninsured, compared to 13.1 percent of whites.¹²

• The number of uninsured Latinos increased from 10.8 million in 2000 to 13.7 million in 2004.¹³

• Roughly one-third of nonelderly Latinos are uninsured, the highest rate among all ethnic groups and almost three times the rate for non-Latino whites.¹⁴

• Among uninsured Latinos, 82.9 percent live below 300 percent of the federal poverty level ($28,710 for an individual, $48,270 for a family of three in 2005), compared to 80 percent of uninsured African Americans and 64.4 percent of uninsured non-Latino whites.¹⁵

• One-third of Latinos in fair or poor health had not visited a physician during the preceding year, a considerably higher rate than for whites and African Americans.¹⁶

• Latinos had worse access to care compared to non-Latino whites for about 90 percent of access measures, such as lacking health insurance or a source of ongoing care, having problems getting a referral to a specialist, and rating their health care as poor.¹⁷

• While almost 9 out of 10 uninsured Latinos are workers or their dependents, Latinos are far less likely than whites to have job-based coverage—regardless of how much they work or the size of the firm or industry in which they work.¹⁸

• Even when compared to groups of similar income, Latinos were disproportionately less likely to have visited a doctor in the past year. For example, Latinos with incomes less than 100 percent of poverty ($9,570 for an individual, $16,090 for a family of three in 2005) were nearly 70 percent as likely not to have had a health care visit in the previous year as other racial/ethnic groups of the same income.¹⁹

When viewed as a group, racial and ethnic minorities suffer from worse health compared to their white counterparts. For example:

• American Indians, African Americans, and Latinos are more likely to rate their health as fair or poor in comparison to whites and Asians.¹

• Among adults, death rates for African Americans are approximately 55 percent higher than they are for whites.²

• Latinos are more likely to be employed in high-risk occupations than any other racial or ethnic group. For example, although they comprise only 14 percent of the population, Latinos account for 35 percent of all textile workers, 27 percent of building workers, 21 percent of construction workers, and 24 percent of all workers in the farming, forestry, and fishing industries.³

• In 2002, 71 percent of African Americans lived in counties that violated federal air pollution standards, compared with 58 percent of the white population.⁴

• African-American women have the highest death rates from heart disease, breast and lung cancer, stroke, and pregnancy among women of all racial and ethnic backgrounds.⁵

• Compared to the general U.S. population, American Indians are 638 percent more likely to suffer from alcoholism, 400 percent more likely to contract tuberculosis, 291 percent more likely to suffer from diabetes, 67 percent more likely to have pneumonia or influenza, and 20 percent more likely to suffer from heart disease.6

• The rate of Hepatitis B (HBV) in Asian Americans is more than two times the rate of HBV in whites (2.95 versus 1.31 cases per 100,000).⁷

In 2001, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders had the highest tuberculosis case rate of all racial and ethnic populations in the United States.⁸

Cancer

Racial and ethnic minorities are not only more likely to be diagnosed with cancer, they are also more likely to receive less timely and effective treatment. Because of these disparities, cancer takes a greater toll on communities of color. For example:

• Cancer is the leading cause of death for Asians and Pacific Islanders, and it is the second leading cause of death among every other racial and ethnic minority group in the United States.¹¹

• African-American men are 50 percent more likely to suffer from prostate cancer than white men, and they are more than twice as likely as white men to die as a result of the cancer.¹²

• Between 1982 and 1992, Vietnamese-American women had the highest age-adjusted rate of cervical cancer (43 per 100,000), more than five times the rate of non-Hispanic whites (7.5 per 100,000).¹³

• Lung cancer kills more African Americans and American Indians/Alaska Natives than any other type of cancer.¹⁴

Cardiovascular Disease

Minority populations suffer from cardiovascular disease at a higher rate and are more likely to die as a result. For example:

• In 2001, rates of death from heart disease were 30 percent higher among African Americans than among whites.¹⁵

• In 2001, death rates from stroke were 41 percent higher among African Americans than among whites.¹⁶

• Racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to posses the risk factors—such as obesity and high cholesterol—that lead to increased rates of cardiovascular disease.¹⁷

HIV/AIDS

HIV and AIDS pose a disproportionate threat to minority populations. For example:

• Although they made up only 26 percent of the U.S. population in 2001, African Americans and Latinos accounted for 67 percent of newly reported AIDS cases.²⁰

• In 2003, HIV/AIDS was the leading cause of death for African-American women between 25 and 34 years of age. The rate of HIV diagnosis among African-American women was 25 times that of white women, and African-American men were eight times more likely than their white counterparts to be diagnosed with HIV.²¹

Infant and Maternal Mortality

Infant mortality rates offer a vivid portrait of disparities in health. Even at birth, children from racial and ethnic minorities suffer worse health outcomes, including a notably higher rate of death. For example:

• Infant mortality is more than twice as high for African American infants as it is for white, non-Hispanic infants (13.9 deaths per 1,000 live births versus 5.8 deaths per 1,000 live births).²²

• The maternal mortality rate for African-American women is nearly five times the maternal mortality rate for white women.²³

• American Indians and Alaska Natives have Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) rates that are two times higher than the general U.S. population.²⁴

Children

Children from racial and ethnic minority groups continue to lag behind their white peers on measures of health outcomes. Even among children of similar socioeconomic status, minority children fare worse overall. For example:

• Only 12 percent of white, non-Hispanic children are in less than very good or excellent health, compared to 25 percent of African-American children and 26 percent of Hispanic children.²⁵

• African-American children are more than three times as likely as children of other races to develop sleep-disordered breathing.²⁶

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