WASHINGTON, D.C. – Health Subcommittee Vice Chair Congresswoman Lois Capps released the following statement for today’s hearing on the Health Equity and Accountability Act (HR 3014) as prepared for delivery:

“Welcome, everyone.  Today’s hearing is on the Health Equity and Accountability Act introduced by my good friend, Hilda Solis.

“HR 3014 has tremendous support from the TriCaucus as well as several Members of this Committee, including myself.  This legislation seeks to address the glaring health disparities that exist in our nation among different racial and ethnic communities.  I think we need this bill more than ever.

“I am constantly horrified to learn how far the United States lags behind other industrialized countries in terms of maternal and infant mortality rates and other quality of life measures.  And upon investigating these statistics, we learn that they are often caused by the disparities that exist right here in our own country.

“Why is it that the maternal mortality rate among black women in America is four times that of non-Hispanic white women?

“Why is it that Hispanics are nearly twice as likely to die from diabetes than non-Hispanic whites?

“The IOM found that these disparities persist even when controlled for socioeconomic factors and HR 3014 does an excellent job of addressing the reasons why these disparities persist and how to fix them.

“For too many the lack of access to health care, specifically culturally competent health care, is what is driving these disparities.

“So HR 3014 addresses them by:

·        Improving access to health care services

·        improving health workforce diversity,

·        bolstering efforts to ensure culturally and linguistically appropriate health care

“Furthermore, HR 3014 addresses gaps in our understanding of disparities by strengthening and coordinating data collection.  It is, quite frankly, embarrassing that the United States, with all of our cutting edge science and biomedical research, cannot extend access to quality health care services to all of its citizens.

“Passing the Health Equity and Accountability Act and implementing the provisions within the bill would bring us much closer to where this country needs to be in health care services.”

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Pictured above: (center) Congresswoman Capps meets with Central Coast firefighters to discuss emergency preparedness.