Oral

America’s health depends on the health of ALL Americans. It's not enough to improve population health, without being concerned about fairness, for when the health and economic well-being of a large number of Americans is left behind, America's future is left behind. From cradle to grave, we're seeing a dramatic, and inequitable, change in the distribution of health insurance, disease, illness, and death. Infant mortality is more than twice as high among Blacks than among Whites, even when controlling for socioeconomic factors. Diabetes prevalence is 291% higher in American Indians than in White Americans. Type 2 Diabetes is associated with age, race and ethnicity. African-Americans and Hispanics typically experience disability at a higher rate than do Whites. Lung cancer rates among Southeast Asians are 18% higher than among White Americans. Hispanics <65 have a 34.1% uninsured rate, American Indians/Alaska Natives, 30.7%, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders, 24.1%, Blacks, 18.6%, and Whites, 16.9% and Asians, 13.4%. People of low income have almost eight times the rate of cardiovascular disease. Oral health disparities are highly prevalent among low-income, racial/ethnic minority, disadvantaged, disabled, and institutionalized individuals. LGBT people are at a higher risk for cancer, mental illnesses, and other diseases, and are more likely to smoke, drink alcohol, use drugs and engage in other risky behaviors. America spends more on healthcare than any other nation - on a per capita basis and as a proportion of GDP - but our lives are shorter. Moreover, America ranks 37th in health care quality and 30th in population health status. Meanwhile, health inequalities cost America $1+ trillion. Ironically, America is spending more, but getting less value for its health investments. Needed is a better upstream model. Ten years into the new millennium, we made headway. In 2010, the President signed the landmark Affordable Care Act. In 2010, Healthy People 2020, which addressed health equity outcomes, was launched. In 2011, the National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities released the National Stakeholder Strategy for Achieving Health Equity. In 2011, US DHHS jointly issued the first-ever departmental Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparities. In 2011, US DHHS released standards to more consistently measure race, ethnicity, sex, primary language, and disability status. HHS also announced they would begin collecting data for LGBT populations. In 2011, at “Health Equity 2020,” we previewed the vision for Health Equity 2020. In 2011/12, Congress re-introduced the Health Equity & Accountability Act (HEAA) This year, we invited our nation's preeminent health leaders in Congress, at US HHS, at the state and territorial level, in philanthropy and in academia, to provide us with a progress report on health equity. They will give an update on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), HEAA 2012, the National Prevention Strategy, the National Stakeholder Strategy, Healthy People 2020, State and Territorial Initiatives, and what's new in academia. They will also identify some of the top health inequities, and the systemic failures that create or allow these inequities to continue. They will also talk about how to measure, communicate, and advance successes. This APHA Special Session will be the “curtain-raiser” for sequential sessions that will address the determinants of health and health equity through a race/ethnicity lens, as well as a social justice, environmental, gender, persons with disabilities, LGBT, oral health, and persons in the military lens.

Session Objectives: Identify health inequities, across the lifespan. Describe system failures that create or allow these inequities to continue. List ways to measure and communicate health equity successes. Discuss what Federal, State and Territorial Health, and Philanthropic Executives are doing to address the social determinants of health and health equity.