Submitted by State Senator Mike Barrett (D-Lexington)
The Committee on Health Care Financing will hear from researchers and self-advocates on why a proposed new Office of Health Equity should concern itself with disability, along with race and ethnicity, as it promotes attention to health disparities confronting disadvantaged groups. The hearing will take place in the Gardner Auditorium of the Massachusetts State House at 11 am on Tuesday, March 22.
The Office is directed explicitly to work in tandem with the existing Massachusetts Health Disparities Council, already tasked with a three-part focus on race, ethnicity and disability. Yet recent legislative action, little noticed, seeks to exclude people with disabilities from the scope of the new Office, de-aligning its mission from that of the Council.
A bill proposed by State Senator Mike Barrett (D-Lexington), S.1114, An Act to Eliminate Health Disparities in the Commonwealth, would provide that people with disabilities are not cut from the jurisdiction of the new agency.
Health disparities are gaps in access to care or in actual outcomes that confront certain groups disproportionately. A 2013 survey of people with disabilities in Mass., by researchers at UMass Medical School, found that:
- 62% of respondents were concerned with access to adequate mental health services;
- 54%, with transportation to the doctor’s office;
- 45%, with the availability of accessible gyms.
Medical experts, self-advocates, advocacy organizations and Senator Barrett are expected to testify.
Loading ...
