“This is the kind of ammunition we need to keep the community health centers, the community health workers, health empowerment zones, all of the provisions that would ensure that our disadvantaged communities would actually be reached by the benefits of health care reform, not left behind as they so often have been,” Christensen said.
Drexel University’s Dr. Dennis Andrulis outlined areas where health reform proposals succeed and fail to address disparities. The expansion of Medicare eligibility standards will provide more affordable access while bills that eliminate bi-lingual and other language service programs will limit it.
“Accessibility, affordability and accountability, those are the three A’s of this discussion,” Clyburn said.
