The National Health Council and our members prioritize creating an equitable health ecosystem. The following is an update to our 2020 Consensus Statement and expresses the NHC’s and our members’ commitment to working together to address critical areas of health equity and diversity, equity, and inclusion in the patient community. For more information on our health equity work, click here.

Our current health system came of age when racial segregation and many other forms of discrimination based on such things as gender identity and sexual orientation, disability, and other factors were sanctioned by custom and law. Widely practiced discrimination bred structured health inequities for historically underrepresented racial/ethnic groups and other marginalized populations whom society decided to disadvantage. The U.S. health care system has dismantled the outward manifestation of segregated care so that race/ethnicity is no longer the explicit discriminator. However, the legacy system continues to bolster discriminatory practices and policies and has replaced the language of segregation with new discriminators. These discriminators, such as location, personal income, and employment and insurance status disproportionately impact the historically marginalized. The net result is that structured health inequities remain.

Commitment to Action

Piecemeal solutions are no longer an option. It is time for a complete transformation of the health care system to promote unbiased structures and processes to advance equitable access to quality health care for all. This includes addressing all societal, structural, financial, and policy determinations that are products of – and reinforce – historical bias. We, as the leaders of the nation’s patient groups and partner organizations, commit to working together to end structural discrimination in the health care system and align on a successful strategy for reform. We call on our nation’s leaders to join us. Patient and partner organizations are uniquely positioned to lead the health ecosystem towards equity. We commit to elevating the patient voice and reframing conversations to manage the health, financial, and other risks patients face over managing financial liability to the health system. Specifically, we will work to:

• Promote an inclusive, equitable, accessible, and high-quality care delivery system;
• Advocate for equitable access to affordable and comprehensive health insurance coverage;
• Partner with organizations that have a track record in addressing social drivers of health to reduce health inequities;
• Collaborate with the biomedical and health-services research and the health economics ecosystem to support equity in development and valuation of new and innovative treatments and services.
• Improve collection and reporting of demographic data in research to include race/ethnicity, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender and gender identity, and other factors to help identify and eliminate biases; and
• Advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in my organization and the patient advocacy community.

We recognize that health inequity is a highly complex problem. Effective solutions will require action from across the entire health ecosystem and collaboration with organizations outside the health care sphere, including policymakers at all levels of government, employers, health insurers, researchers, clinicians, caregivers, patients, and others.

We, as organizations representing and advocating for health care for all people regardless of race/ethnicity, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, or country of origin, etc., must commit to take action within our organizations and the communities we serve to reduce health inequities.

Sincerely,