Racial bias is putting Black Americans' health at risk

DEI: According to The COVID Tracking Project at The Atlantic , Black Americans died at a 1.4 times higher rate from COVID in the first half of the pandemic than their white counterparts. While affordability and accessibility certainly play a role, this inequity goes deeper than the herculean task of finding the right doctor at the right price — racial bias is built into the way healthcare providers assess patients when treating COVID, as well as other ailments.

"The truth is [healthcare] 'research' done a century ago was never done for the betterment of African Americans," says Dr. Jayne Morgan, cardiologist and clinical director of the COVID task force at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. "It was built on a false premise that gets written down in medical textbooks, and 100 years later, it's what everybody has learned." Morgan explains how this has impacted Black health and how employers can work to close the gap in care:

Read: From testing kidney health to giving birth: How racial bias puts Black Americans' health at risk

BIRTH CONTROL: According to a 2020 survey by the KFF , 41% of women of reproductive age did not know that most insurance plans were still required to pay the full cost of birth control for women, despite 78% of employers offering contraceptive coverage to their employees.

In 2018, the Trump administration weakened the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) contraceptive mandate, allowing employers and private colleges to?deny birth control coverage?based on religious or moral objections. But last month, the Biden administration published a proposal that would overturn the ruling, and instead expand and strengthen birth control coverage under the ACA. The new potential mandate would?still allow employers to opt out of coverage over religious reasons, but will no longer be allowed to use moral objections.

Read: A new Biden proposal could increase access to birth control

PRODUCTIVITY: Burnout is high, and as a fresh year stretches ahead, employers and employees alike are looking for ways to boost engagement at work and maximize output. Discover the best ways to build happy and productive workforces in this monthly spotlight:

Read: The Productivity Issue