The Truth is Powerful
Our healthcare system has too many barriers for Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian and poor New Yorkers
Health/stethoscope Credit: Image by StockSnap from Pixabay I have been a pediatrician for over 50 years, treating mostly working class and working poor Black and Brown families. Starting from my residency at Harlem Hospital in the late 1960s, I realized that the work of a dedicated doctor is more than just treating an earache or diagnosing strep throat. It’s also helping parents navigate our expensive and unnecessarily complicated healthcare system so they can take the best care of their families. It’s helping communities improve their health and the health of future generations. It’s advocating for necessary improvements in the health care facilities that serve them—I worked in one.
A new report released by the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus and the Campaign for New York Health, which is fighting for statewide universal health care for all NY residents, reveals how hard that is for communities of color. The report details how Black, Brown, Indigenous and other New Yorkers of color were hit harder by the pandemic due to long-standing inequities in decent health care, housing, food and fulltime jobs, also their lack of employer-paid health insurance resulting in significant medical debt.
Another recent study has reported 8,600 children […]