[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 83 (Wednesday, May 25, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S3176]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    SENATE RESOLUTION 477--PROMOTING MINORITY HEALTH AWARENESS AND 
 SUPPORTING THE GOALS AND IDEALS OF NATIONAL MINORITY HEALTH MONTH IN 
APRIL 2016, WHICH INCLUDE BRINGING ATTENTION TO THE HEALTH DISPARITIES 
  FACED BY MINORITY POPULATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SUCH AS AMERICAN 
 INDIANS, ALASKAN NATIVES, ASIAN AMERICANS, AFRICAN AMERICANS, LATINO 
       AMERICANS, AND NATIVE HAWAIIANS OR OTHER PACIFIC ISLANDERS

  Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Brown, Mr. 
Menendez, and Mr. Schatz) submitted the following resolution; which was 
considered and agreed to:

                              S. Res. 477

       Whereas the origin of the National Minority Health Month is 
     National Negro Health Week, established in 1915 by Dr. Booker 
     T. Washington;
       Whereas the theme for National Minority Health Month in 
     2016 is ``Accelerating Health Equity for the Nation'';
       Whereas, through the ``National Stakeholder Strategy for 
     Achieving Health Equity'' and the ``HHS Action Plan to Reduce 
     Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities'', the Department of 
     Health and Human Services has set goals and strategies to 
     advance the safety, health, and well-being of the people of 
     the United States;
       Whereas a study by the Joint Center for Political and 
     Economic Studies, entitled ``The Economic Burden of Health 
     Inequalities in the United States'', concludes that, between 
     2003 and 2006, the combined cost of ``health inequalities and 
     premature death in the United States'' was 
     $1,240,000,000,000;
       Whereas the Department of Health and Human Services has 
     identified 6 main categories in which racial and ethnic 
     minorities experience the most disparate access to health 
     care and health outcomes, including infant mortality, cancer 
     screening and management, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, 
     HIV/AIDS, and immunizations;
       Whereas, in 2012, African American women were 10 percent 
     less likely to have been diagnosed with, yet were almost 42 
     percent more likely to die from, breast cancer than non-
     Hispanic White women;
       Whereas African American women are twice as likely to lose 
     their lives to cervical cancer as non-Hispanic White women;
       Whereas African Americans are 50 percent more likely to die 
     from a stroke than non-Hispanic Whites;
       Whereas, in 2013, Hispanics were 1.4 times more likely than 
     non-Hispanic Whites to die of diabetes;
       Whereas Latino men are 3 times more likely to have either 
     HIV infections or AIDS than non-Hispanic White men;
       Whereas Latina women are 4 times more likely to have AIDS 
     than non-Hispanic White women;
       Whereas, in 2014, although African Americans represented 
     only 13 percent of the population of the United States, they 
     accounted for 43 percent of HIV infections in that year;
       Whereas, in 2010, African American youth accounted for an 
     estimated 57 percent of all new HIV infections among youth in 
     the United States, followed by 20 percent of Latino youth;
       Whereas Asian American women are 18.2 percent more likely 
     to be diagnosed with HIV than non-Hispanic White women;
       Whereas Native Hawaiians living in Hawaii are 5.7 times 
     more likely to die of diabetes than non-Hispanic Whites 
     living in Hawaii;
       Whereas, although the prevalence of obesity is high among 
     all population groups in the United States, 48 percent of 
     African Americans, 31.8 percent of Hispanics, and 11 percent 
     of Asian Americans are obese;
       Whereas, in 2012, Asian Americans were 1.6 times more 
     likely than non-Hispanic Whites to contract Hepatitis A;
       Whereas among all ethnic groups in 2012, Asian Americans 
     and Pacific Islanders had the highest incidence of Hepatitis 
     A;
       Whereas Asian American women are 1.5 times more likely than 
     non-Hispanic Whites to die from viral hepatitis;
       Whereas Asian Americans are 5.5 times more likely than non-
     Hispanic Whites to develop chronic Hepatitis B;
       Whereas, in 2013, 80 percent of children born infected with 
     HIV belonged to minority groups;
       Whereas the Department of Health and Human Services has 
     identified heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes as 
     some of the leading causes of death among American Indians 
     and Alaskan Natives;
       Whereas American Indians and Alaskan Natives die from 
     diabetes, alcoholism, unintentional injuries, homicide, and 
     suicide at higher rates than other people in the United 
     States;
       Whereas American Indians and Alaskan Natives have a life 
     expectancy that is 4.4 years shorter than the life expectancy 
     of the overall population of the United States;
       Whereas African American babies are almost twice as likely 
     as non-Hispanic White or Latino babies to be born at low 
     birth weight;
       Whereas American Indian and Alaskan Native babies are twice 
     as likely as non-Hispanic White babies to die from sudden 
     infant death syndrome;
       Whereas American Indian and Alaskan Natives have 1.5 times 
     the infant mortality rate as that of non-Hispanic Whites;
       Whereas American Indian and Alaskan Native babies are 50 
     percent more likely to die before their first birthday than 
     babies of non-Hispanic Whites;
       Whereas marked differences in the social determinants of 
     health, described by the World Health Organization as ``the 
     high burden of illness responsible for appalling premature 
     loss of life [that] arises in large part because of the 
     conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and 
     age'', lead to poor health outcomes and declines in 
     longevity;
       Whereas the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 
     (Public Law 111-148; 124 Stat. 119) provides specific 
     protections and rights for American Indians and Alaskan 
     Natives, 23 percent of whom lack health insurance;
       Whereas, despite the substantial improvements in health 
     insurance coverage among women overall, women of color are 
     more likely to be uninsured;
       Whereas, in 2013, 15.9 percent of African Americans were 
     uninsured, as compared to 9.8 percent of non-Hispanic Whites;
       Whereas African American women are more likely to be 
     uninsured or underinsured, at a rate of 19 percent;
       Whereas \1/4\ of Latinas live in poverty and Latinas have 
     the greatest percentage of uninsured women in any racial 
     group at a rate of 31 percent; and
       Whereas community-based health care initiatives, such as 
     prevention-focused programs, present a unique opportunity to 
     use innovative approaches to improve health practices across 
     the United States and to sharply reduce disparities among 
     racial and ethnic minority populations: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate supports the goals and ideals of 
     National Minority Health Month, which include bringing 
     attention to the severe health disparities faced by minority 
     populations in the United States, such as American Indians, 
     Alaskan Natives, Asian Americans, African Americans, Latino 
     Americans, and Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders.

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