[1]NNU - Medicare for All!



May isn’t just Mental Health Awareness Month — it’s also Asian American
and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month.

As we honor and celebrate the diversity, culture, and contributions of the
AAPI community, we also recognize the challenges and disparities that AAPI
individuals face within our broken health care system.

According to KPP, “Asian people are the fastest-growing racial or ethnic
group in the United States, almost doubling from 10.5 million to almost 20
million between 2000 and 2020,” with an additional 700,000 people
identifying as Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Other Pacific Islander
(NHOPI).^1

When it comes to rates of health insurance, non-elderly NHOPI people were
4% more likely to be uninsured than their white counterparts in 2019.^2
However, disaggregating the data to different racial and ethnic subgroups
shows wide variations in insurance rates and other health disparities.^3
For example, Mongolian people in the United States have an astounding 28%
uninsurance rate.

Like other communities of color, AAPI people also face disparities in
health outcomes when compared to the non-Hispanic white population. For
example, the AAPI community tends to see high rates of cancer,
cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hepatitis B, mental illness,
osteoporosis, and tobacco use.^4

Unfortunately, when it comes to mental health, AAPI people are less likely
to utilize mental health services compared to other racial and ethnic
groups. In 2021, only 25% of Asian adults with mental illness received
mental health services, compared to 52% of white adults — a staggering
difference and especially concerning given the spike in anti-Asian racism
and hate crimes in recent years.^5

[ [link removed] ]KFF table showing Share of Adults (Ages 18 and up) with Any Mental
Illness Who Received Mental Health Services in the Past Year, 2021

Not only did AAPI people face a spike in discrimination during the
Covid-19 pandemic, some also faced more exposure and higher rates of
illness. Indigenous Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in Los Angeles County
saw infection rates of up to five times of white people.^6

If we’re going to address these disparities, we need to start by fixing
our broken, profit-driven health care system. We can do this by passing a
single-payer health care system through Medicare for All, which would
include hospital services, primary and preventative services, mental
health care, prescription drugs and medical devices, and so much more at
no cost to patients at the point of service.

Medicare for All would level the playing field by eliminating financial
barriers to care while providing additional funding, protections, and
support for medically underserved areas and communities.

Together, let’s keep up our collective fight for health care justice and
guaranteed health care for ALL.

In solidarity,

Nurses’ Campaign to Win Medicare for All

 

Sources:

1. “Health Care Disparities Among Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Other
Pacific Islander (NHOPI) People,” Drishti Pillai, Nambi Ndugga, and
Samantha Artiga, KFF, May 2023.
[ [link removed] ][link removed]

2. Ibid.

3. “Invisible in the data: Broad ‘Asian American’ category obscures health
disparities,” Usha Lee McFarling, Stat News, November 2023.
[ [link removed] ][link removed]

4. “Health Disparities,” Asian American Health Initiative.
[ [link removed] ][link removed]

5. “Health Care Disparities Among Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Other
Pacific Islander (NHOPI) People,” Drishti Pillai, Nambi Ndugga, and
Samantha Artiga, KFF, May 2023.
[ [link removed] ][link removed]

6. “Medicare for All and Racial Justice,” National Nurses United.
[ [link removed] ][link removed]



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