How Structural Inequalities in New York’s Health Care System Exacerbate Health Disparities During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Call for Equitable Reform

Report | Jun. 2020 |View the Press Release

How Structural Inequalities in New York’s Health Care System Exacerbate Health Disparities During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Call for Equitable Reform

Elisabeth Ryden Benjamin, Amanda Dunker

Summary: Researchers and the media have extensively documented that people of color are more likely than white people to be exposed to COVID-19, require hospitalization, and die.1 But few reports have illuminated the historical and structural health policy decisions that form the underpinnings of the immense disparities witnessed in New York, the epicenter of the U.S. pandemic. This issue brief describes the cumulative impact of these decisions—particularly health policy and financing decisions in New York in the last 30 years—and proposes recommendations for addressing them moving forward.

Issues: Access to Health Care

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