Committed to ending racial health inequities?

You need to be talking to your patients about their civic health.

Voting and health inequities are closely linked.

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(1/)
Families separated at the border
Another school shooting
#COVID19’s racist impact
The ongoing fight for #Medicaid
#ClimateChange

All impact the health of our communities. Outcomes that are heavily influenced by participation in, or lack of, voting.
#VoteHealth #VoteKids (2/)
Voter registration among young people, particularly young people of color, is far lower than that of older individuals.

In 2016 white Americans over the age of 65 had a registration rate of 81%, compared to 61% of Black & <50% of Latinx & Asian Americans aged 18 to 29.

(4/)
Income & voting are also linked.

In every racial group having less income made you less likely to be registered to vote

**Note: unfortunately no data provided on American Indian/Alaskan Native/Indigenous populations in the above piece
(5/)
One’s health also impacts voting.

2016 turnout among individuals who self-report “Excellent” or “Very good” health was 64%

Among those reporting “Fair” or “Poor” health? 49%

Insured? 63%
Uninsured? 34%

#VoteHealth
(6/)
When fewer young voters, voters of color or voters w/low incomes or poor health are able to vote, elections are less likely to empower all communities.

Politicians become more responsive to the interests of fewer citizens.

Their policies reflect these inequities.
(7/)
This bias shows up in how #Medicaid programs are/aren’t supported.

States that have a disproportionate representation by healthy voters spend less on health & have less generous #Medicaid programs for both benefits offered & payment rates.

#VoteHealth #VoteKids
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“The negative relationship between the degree of health bias in state electorates and the level of Medicaid generosity remains after controlling for the degree of class bias in voter turnout.”

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#Medicaid
#VoteHealth

https://ssrn.com/abstract=2454900">https://ssrn.com/abstract=...
Policies lead to community level racial health disparities.

On the left #Medicaid expansion as tracked by @KFF. Dark blue = states that have NOT accepted expansion

On the right Uninsurance rates as tracked by the @covid_atlas by county level data. Dark purple is >25%

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We know communities that have health insurance are generally healthier & have less incidence & complications from chronic disease

Diseases that impact susceptibility to #COVID19

We also know access to insurance helps https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="⬇️" title="Pfeil nach unten" aria-label="Emoji: Pfeil nach unten"> racial health inequities

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK220636/

(11/)">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK...
So unsurprisingly our map of uninsured counties has a lot of overlap with #COVID19 infection rates (as of last month) via the same @covid_atlas county-level data

Left = Confirmed cases per 10k population: Red>>>Yellow

(12/)
It is clear that policies that impact health care access have had a direct tie to racial health equity.

This is true during #COVID19 & will likely have an even greater impact in the recovery phase of the pandemic.

#VoteHealth

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Inequity in voting accesshttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="➡️" title="Pfeil nach rechts" aria-label="Emoji: Pfeil nach rechts">disparities in voter participationhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="➡️" title="Pfeil nach rechts" aria-label="Emoji: Pfeil nach rechts">less responsive leadershttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="➡️" title="Pfeil nach rechts" aria-label="Emoji: Pfeil nach rechts">policies worsen health inequityhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="➡️" title="Pfeil nach rechts" aria-label="Emoji: Pfeil nach rechts">community level health disparities

The negative feedback loop on health created by voting inequity is clear.
(15/)
#VoteHealth

https://www.annfammed.org/content/annalsfm/17/5/459.full.pdf">https://www.annfammed.org/content/a...
Inequity in voting accesshttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable=disparities in voter participationhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="➡️" title="Pfeil nach rechts" aria-label="Emoji: Pfeil nach rechts">less responsive leadershttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="➡️" title="Pfeil nach rechts" aria-label="Emoji: Pfeil nach rechts">policies worsen health inequityhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="➡️" title="Pfeil nach rechts" aria-label="Emoji: Pfeil nach rechts">community level health disparitiesThe negative feedback loop on health created by voting inequity is clear.(15/) #VoteHealth https://www.annfammed.org/content/a..." title="Inequity in voting accesshttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="➡️" title="Pfeil nach rechts" aria-label="Emoji: Pfeil nach rechts">disparities in voter participationhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="➡️" title="Pfeil nach rechts" aria-label="Emoji: Pfeil nach rechts">less responsive leadershttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="➡️" title="Pfeil nach rechts" aria-label="Emoji: Pfeil nach rechts">policies worsen health inequityhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="➡️" title="Pfeil nach rechts" aria-label="Emoji: Pfeil nach rechts">community level health disparitiesThe negative feedback loop on health created by voting inequity is clear.(15/) #VoteHealth https://www.annfammed.org/content/a..." class="img-responsive" style="max-width:100%;"/>
Communities, especially those with high rates of poverty, that have high voter turnout have lower income inequality & higher wages.

States who have a higher voter turnout have better healthcare.

#VoteHealth
(17/) https://scholars.org/contribution/how-roadblocks-voting-make-income-inequality-worse">https://scholars.org/contribut...
There are lots of ways to start. I invite all to join @AmerAcadPeds, @md4healthequity, @Vot_ER_org & so many other organizations connecting clinicians to tools to help patients register to vote & get a mail-in ballot (so they can protect their health while they vote!)

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You can find out more about healthy democracy kits here: https://vot-er.org/watchkitvideo/ 

And">https://vot-er.org/watchkitv... more about key child health equity issues & their link to voting: https://services.aap.org/en/advocacy/election-vote-kids/key-child-health-issues/

Let’s">https://services.aap.org/en/advoca... get our communities engaged & vote like our health depends on it.

Because it does.
#VoteHealth
You can follow @ChomiloMD.
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