Health Disparities in Washington State: Narrowing the Gap

Welcome to the proceedings of our seventh annual symposium, Health Disparities in Washington State: Narrowing the Gap. Health has more to do with policies than it does with medicine. Our state now leads the nation in the number of enrollees in health care plans. The Affordable Care Act has added 350,000 Medicaid patients in Washington who were uninsured a year ago. Yet the research data on inequities is startling and often heart-wrenching. For every indicator—longevity, child mortality, diabetes, obesity, teen pregnancy, transportation fatalities, AIDS, violent injuries—the U.S. ranks near the bottom of 17 peer nations. For minorities, every single chronic and significant disease appears in higher frequencies. The speakers share data that send out an alarm, revealing there is much to be done to reduce disparities, achieve social justice, and improve health care for all.