Testimony for the New York State Department of Health

In October 2007 The Opportunity Agenda submitted testimony to the New York State Department of Health. At a public hearing for the “Partnership for Coverage: Increasing access to health insurance” Kevin Hsu, The Opportunity Agenda’s Carter Fellow, offered recommendations to ensure health care equity in New York. Data collection is one way to make progress towards eradicating health disparities:

With regards to eliminating the documented inequities in the quality of health care received by communities of color, immigrant communities, and low-income populations in New York, reforms must include collection of quality of care data, stratified by race, ethnicity, primary language and other characteristics of underserved communities. This data should be publicly reported and, more importantly, acted upon by providing incentives to providers who engage in quality improvement programs targeting demonstrated health care disparities, educating patients, and supporting and expanding community health worker programs that bridge cultural and trust gaps between providers and underserved communities.

As states lead the way in health care reform, particular attention must be paid to underserved populations so that the health of all communities can be improved. For Kevin’s testimony, and testimonies from dozens of other health advocates, click here.

Health Care That Works

Eighty-nine percent of New Yorkers agree that health care is a human right. Yet our current health care system leaves far too many people to fend for themselves. Often, those left behind come from low-income communities or communities of color.

Visit our Google Maps Mashup - Health Care That Works, and see for yourself the disproportionate impact that recent hospital closures have on these communities in New York City.

Read our report - Dangerous and Unlawful: Why Our Health Care System is Failing New York Communities and How To Fix It.

In February of 2006, The Opportunity Agenda released The State of Opportunity in America, which assessed the nation’s progress toward expanding opportunity for all.  This report measured the nation’s progress along six dimension of opportunity – mobility, equality, security, redemption, voice and community.  One year later, we find that significant opportunity gaps continue to persist in wages, education, housing, health care, and other areas.  Americans generally believe that opportunity is available for everyone in the United States, regardless of circumstances at birth.  But the nation is falling short of its egalitarian ideals, and millions of Americans are less likely than ever to achieve full opportunity.  Read More>>

The Road Back From Katrina, The Road Forward For America

On the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, The Opportunity Agenda assembled a tool kit - including talking points, fact sheets, video resources and more - to help advocates in the Gulf and across the nation build support for real policy changes that could aid the rebuilding process, and address the root problems which caused this national tragedy.  Read Our Toolkit>>