V.I. Congressional Delegate Donna Christian-Christensen, and Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), outlined the benefits of their legislation to eliminate disparities in the health care system to members of the medical community today at a congressional briefing in Washington, DC.
Christensen, who is chair of the Congressional Black Caucus' Health Braintrust, sponsored the Medically Underserved Access to Care Act of 1999 to ensure that patients living in medically underserved areas have access to quality and affordable health care services.
The bill would require managed care organizations to contract with providers in those communities who are ethnically representative of the community and demonstrate cultural sensitivity to their patients.
Jackson, who is a member of the House Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education, has also introduced the National Center for Research on Domestic Health Disparities Act, which would elevate the Office of Research on Minority Health at the National Institutes of Health to a National Center for Research on Domestic Health Disparities.
Both bills are the result of the Congressional Black Caucus' (CBC) focus on the impact of disparities in health care on minority communities, said a statement released by Christensen Tuesday.
"The CBC had as its focus disparities in disease, but we wanted to take a closer look at infrastructure issues that cause peoples of color to have disproportionate numbers in health care" Christensen said.
"My bill ensures that providers who traditionally serve under served communities will not be eliminated by managed care and also provides a grant through the Department of Human Services and a national nonprofit organization to help minority physicians and other health care providers best access the managed care system," she said.