(Radio Iowa) – A new report finds racial disparities persist across Iowa’s health care system. The non-profit Commonwealth Fund found white Iowans ranked in the 82nd percentile nationally for healthcare outcomes, while black and Hispanic Iowans ranked in the 18th and 19th percentiles respectably. Jess Maksut, the fund’s director of health equity research, says recent federal policy changes to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act are expected to drive up racial gaps in healthcare.
“Medicaid unwinding, marketplace changes and new restrictions affecting immigrants and asylees are now eroding access,” Maksut says, “with disproportionate impacts to American Indian, Alaska Native, black and Hispanic communities.” Laurie Zephyrin, a senior vice president at the Commonwealth Fund, says the number of black, Hispanic, American Indian, and Alaska Native communities who are uninsured is expected to greatly increase in the next decade unless policy changes are made.
Zephyrin says, “Priorities include: extended, enhanced ACA tax credits, simplifying Medicaid and marketplace enrollment, and renewal processes, and expanding Medicaid or closing the coverage gap.” She says other recommendations include expanding the availability of health care workers, and strengthening pipelines to create a diverse health care workforce.
