Racial and ethnic disparities in Indiana’s health care system persist

A new report released Thursday shows racial and ethnic disparities persist in health care access, quality, and outcomes across the nation, including in Indiana. The Commonwealth Fund, a private U.S. foundation which supports independent research on health care issues, released the& 2024 State Health Disparities Report. It compares medical outcomes for people of different races and ethnicities in each state, and ranks how well each state’s health system addresses medical conditions for each racial and ethnic group. In Indiana, White people experienced the highest health system performance, scoring in the 64th percentile among all population groups nationally. Black people experienced the lowest health system performance in the state, scoring in the 14th percentile. However, researchers found Indiana has less severe racial and ethnic health disparities compared to other states in the Great Lakes region.& The findings& highlight continued disparities in Indiana& health outcome metrics including life expectancy.& David Radley, a senior scientist with The Commonwealth Fund, said health disparities are related to a variety of factors like a lack of affordable, quality health care options and health insurance.& “Where a person lives matters, and this is especially true for people of color,” Radley said. “We also see big differences in...