[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 51 (Friday, March 22, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S2600]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. PADILLA (for himself and Mr. Booker):
  S. 4065. A bill to prohibit discrimination in health care and require 
the provision of equitable health care, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. PADILLA. Madam President, I rise to introduce the Equal Health 
Care for All Act, which appropriately frames healthcare discrimination 
as a civil rights issue.
  Inequitable access to quality, affordable healthcare is the result of 
centuries of structural and systemic racism, all of which continues to 
result in poorer health outcomes in communities of color.
  Black, Hispanic, and indigenous individuals are disproportionately 
more likely than their White counterparts to suffer from a range of 
illnesses, from asthma to heart disease to prostate cancer.
  Inequitable outcomes are not exclusive to racial trends, however. 
Women are both diagnosed with and die from lung cancer at a higher rate 
than men, when comparing those who never smoked. And while rates of 
lung cancer have dropped, women fall behind while rates of cancer drop 
faster for men.
  The Equal Health Care for All Act seeks to address structural 
inequities by establishing a legal definition of ``inequitable health 
care'' and creating a formal process to enforce the standard.
  The bill would also establish a grant program to assist hospitals and 
other providers in implementing reforms to ensure equitable care and 
would establish a permanent Federal Health Equity Commission to study 
and make recommendations on health equity issues.
  I would like to thank my colead, Representative Adam Schiff, for his 
leadership in California and for leading on this issue in the House.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues to enact the Equal 
Health Care for All Act as quickly as possible.

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