Black Americans still suffer worse health. Here’s why there’s so little progress

Morris Brown, a primary care physician, listens to Sarah McCutcheon’s heartbeat in the exam room at his medical office in Kingstree, South Carolina, which sits in a region that suffers from health care provider shortages and high rates of chronic diseases. Gavin McIntyre for KFF Health News Gavin McIntyre for KFF Health News KINGSTREE, S.C. — One morning in late April, a small brick health clinic along the Thurgood Marshall Highway bustled with patients. There was Joshua McCray, 69, a public bus driver who, four years after catching COVID-19, still is too weak to drive. Louvenia McKinney, 77, arrived complaining about shortness of breath. Ponzella McClary brought her 83-year-old mother-in-law, Lula, who has memory issues and had recently taken a fall. Morris Brown, the family practice physician who owns the clinic, rotated through Black patients nearly every 20 minutes. Some struggled to walk. Others pulled oxygen tanks. And most carried three pill bottles or more for various chronic ailments. Sponsor Message But Brown called them “lucky,” with enough health insurance or money to see a doctor. The clinic serves patients along the infamous “Corridor of Shame,” a rural stretch of South Carolina with some of the worst health outcomes in...