Health Care Challenge: Acknowledging Disparity, Confronting Discrimination, and Ensuring Equality. Volume 2: The Role of Federal Civil Rights Enforcement Efforts

摘要

Equal access to quality health care is a crucial issue facing our Nation today. For too long, too many Americans have been denied equal access to quality health care on the basis of race, ethnicity, and gender. Cultural incompetence of health care providers, socioeconomic inequities, disparate impact of facially neutral practices and policies, misunderstanding of civil rights laws, and intentional discrimination contribute to disparities in health status, access to health care services, participation in health research, and receipt of health care financing. Such disparities persist in part because of inadequate enforcement of Federal civil rights laws relating to health care by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). For many years, title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the community service assurance provisions of the Hill-Burton Act, title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and the nondiscrimination provisions of block grant statutes have not been fully enforced and implemented by HHS' Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Equal access to quality health care is a civil right. Although Congress has enacted civil rights laws designed to address specific rights, such as equal opportunity in employment, education, and housing, it has not given health care the same status. Regardless, unequal access to health care is a nationwide problem that primarily affects women and people of color.