7 policies in Biden’s spending plan aimed at health equity

STAT News / Rachel Cohrs
 
WASHINGTON — Democrats have made big promises to tackle racial inequities across society, including in health care, since protests for racial justice swept the nation in 2020.
 
Until recently, it wasn’t clear how either lawmakers or the Biden administration would deliver on those goals — but some of the first concrete steps are now taking shape in the new spending plan Democrats are moving.
 
Embedded in the nearly $2 trillion plan are billions of dollars to help make health care services more accessible and affordable for Americans who slipped through the cracks of existing safety-net policies.
 
The health equity programs span the beginning of life, aiming to make birth safer for Black mothers, to the end, offering incentives to boost pay for home care services disproportionately provided by Black and Hispanic women. The package would also provide cheaper coverage options for low-income adults in states that haven’t expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act — a population that is 60% people of color — and provide stable funding for coverage programs for children and people in the U.S. territories.
 
The package, dubbed the Build Back Better Act, has passed the House, but still has to clear the Senate without a single Democratic defection, and then will likely have to go to another vote in the House before proceeding to the president’s desk.
 
“This is historic legislation, and an incredible investment in health equity. There’s a lot of important provisions, and we need to get this across the finish line,” said Frederick Isasi, executive director of the consumer advocacy group Families USA.
 
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