Hispanic and Latinx communities in the United States experience mental illness at similar rates as the general population, but they are far less likely to receive treatment, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Only about 35% of Hispanic adults with mental illness receive care each year, compared with 46% of the U.S. average. For young adults ages 18 to 25, more than half go without needed treatment, leaving them vulnerable to worsening conditions.Multiple barriers drive this gap. Poverty plays a major role—17% of Hispanic and Latinx individuals live below the poverty line, compared with 8% of non-Hispanic…
Author: Disparity Matters
Federal housing subsidies are proving to be lifesaving interventions, according to research from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study examined over 52,000 Medicare patients between ages 66 and 95 who received federal rental assistance, comparing them with those who didn’t get housing help.The findings reveal that older adults using housing assistance had earlier cancer diagnoses for three common cancers: breast, lung, and colon. Earlier detection typically means easier treatment and better survival rates, suggesting housing aid directly saves lives while reducing healthcare costs.Dr. Craig Pollack, the study’s lead author, explains that rental assistance gives people “the bandwidth”…
Deaths from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tied to alcoholic cirrhosis have surged dramatically among U.S. men over the past two decades. A national analysis found mortality rates nearly sextupled between 1999 and 2020, climbing from 0.107 to 0.612 per 100,000 people. In total, 9,837 deaths were recorded during this period.Older men bear the heaviest burden. Those aged 65 and above saw rates soar from 0.352 to 1.927 per 100,000, far outpacing younger men. “These differences may reflect varying access to healthcare, lifestyle and metabolic risk profiles, and disparities in public health implementation,” the study notes.Race-based trends reveal troubling patterns. Both White…
Across the United States, HIV infections are falling overall — but for Latino communities, the epidemic is intensifying in ways experts now describe as a “cascading disaster” of health inequity. From 2010 to 2022, estimated annual new HIV infections dropped 19% nationwide, yet rose 12% among Latinos, revealing a stark and worsening racial divide in who benefits from prevention and treatment advances.The disparities are especially severe for Latino men who have sex with men (MSM). While MSM overall saw a 15% decline in estimated annual HIV infections, Latino MSM experienced a 24% increase, and among those aged 25 to 34,…
A new study paints a stark picture of inequality: more Americans are dying before they ever qualify for Medicare, and Black adults are disproportionately affected. Between 2012 and 2022, premature mortality among adults aged 18 to 65 jumped by 27%, climbing from 243 to 309 deaths per 100,000. But the racial gap is even more alarming.Black adults saw mortality rates soar from 309 to 427 deaths per 100,000—a 38% increase—compared to a 28% rise among White adults. “These are people who contribute to Medicare their entire lives yet never live long enough to use it,” said Irene Papanicolas of Brown…
For Black Americans struggling with opioid use disorder, a new study reveals that Medicaid — the very program meant to provide care — is instead creating deadly delays. Researchers analyzing nearly 1.2 million Medicaid enrollees newly diagnosed with opioid use disorder found that most wait up to six months before getting treatment, and Black patients are a third less likely than white patients to receive life‑saving medications like methadone. These bureaucratic hurdles come at a time when Black communities are already facing a worsening opioid crisis, with overdose death rates now higher than those of white Americans.The study, from Boston…
Over the past quarter-century, deaths from obesity-related heart disease have more than doubled in the United States, with American Indian and Black communities bearing a disproportionate burden that reveals deep structural inequities in American healthcare.Between 1999 and 2023, more than 267,000 Americans died from the combined effects of obesity and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. American Indian populations experienced the highest mortality rates at 5.47 deaths per 100,000, followed closely by Black Americans at 5.47 per 100,000. These rates far exceeded those of White Americans at 4.14 and Asian Americans at just 0.88 per 100,000.The pandemic years proved particularly devastating. From 2018…
The murders and disappearances of Indigenous women and girls represent a public health catastrophe that has persisted for decades with minimal national attention. In 2022, federal authorities documented 5,487 cases of missing Native American and Alaska Native women and girls, with most involving children under 18. Research indicates Indigenous women are murdered at rates at least ten times higher than the national average in some counties, though inadequate record-keeping obscures the full scope of this crisis.This disparity stems from systemic failures rooted in what Laura Flanders describes as longstanding white racism, jurisdictional gaps in tribal justice systems, and chronic underfunding…
A growing number of hospitals are proving that high C-section rates are not inevitable — a shift with major implications for racial health disparities, since Black women face elevated risks from surgical deliveries. The New York Times reports that Rochester General Hospital cut C-section rates for healthy, first-time mothers from 40 percent to 25 percent after a series of reforms that challenged long-standing assumptions about the procedure. Dr. Elizabeth Bostock, who leads obstetrics there, said many of the “worst disasters” in her career — including hemorrhage and sepsis — stemmed from C-sections. She began routing low-risk patients to midwives, adopting…
A frightening delivery in an Indiana parking lot is intensifying national concern over racial disparities in maternal health. Mercedes Wells, a Black mother of four, was discharged from Franciscan Health Crown Point just minutes before giving birth, according to the hospital’s leadership. Her daughter, Alena, was born in the front seat of the family’s truck as her husband raced to another facility after staff sent them away. Her husband, Leon Wells, said there was “no kind of care, no type of empathy,” and no concern for his wife as her labor rapidly progressed. He said Mercedes repeatedly told staff, “I…