“The Road to Health Care Parity: Transportation and Access to Health Care,” is the second in a series of reports by The Leadership Conference Education Fund examining the key roles transportation and mobility play in the struggle for civil rights and equal opportunity. The reports highlight critical issues and make recommendations for policymakers as they draft a reauthorization of the nation’s surface transportation programs, which will allocate hundreds of billions of federal dollars for transportation projects that will have a profound impact on every person in our county. Access to health care is a civil right and a foundation for other rights. Today, low-income populations, people of color, households in rural areas, and people with disabilities disproportionately lack access to affordable, quality health care. This disparity has contributed to high rates of preventable conditions, which affect individuals’ ability to participate fully in education and the workforce. Lack of affordable and accessible transportation options is a major contributor to health disparities. It isolates low-income people from health care facilities and forces families to spend a large percentage of their budgets on cars and other expensive options, at the expense of other needs, including health care. Our transportation policy also generates public health problems that disproportionately affect low-income communities and communities of color. As Congress considers a reauthorization of our nation’s surface transportation programs, which will allocate significant federal funds to transportation infrastructure, civil and human rights advocates have an opportunity to advance public health through participation in the transportation policy making process. File attachments:
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 The-Road-to-Health-Care-Parity.pdf | 315.98 KB |