Tag Archives: Kaiser Family Foundation

Grandparents may hold key to overcoming COVID vaccine hesitancy in Black community

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Black grandparents

By Sunita Sohrabji
 
Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from Ethnic Media Services


(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Black seniors who themselves are vaccinated could be the trusted messengers the community needs to get the Covid vaccination, said public health experts at a news briefing Sept. 21.
“In the black community, grandparents hold a place of high respect,” said pediatrician Michael Lenoir, board chair of the African American Wellness Project. “The grandmothers, in my opinion, hold the black community together.”
“So if the grandparent is telling the young: ‘you need to go get vaccinated. I got vaccinated, you need to go get vaccinated,’ there’s not a lot of discussion, it’s pretty straightforward,” he said at the news briefing, jointly organized by Ethnic Media Services and California Black Media.
Older African Americans are much more open to the discussion of vaccines than younger African Americans are, said Lenoir. He noted that Black parents are holding themselves and their children back from getting vaccinated because of fears of possible negative side effects from the shot.
An estimated 48 percent of Black Californians are fully vaccinated, compared to 58 percent of the state’s population at large. In California, Black people comprise 5 percent of the population, but make up 7 percent of the state’s deaths from Covid, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Dr. Oliver Brooks, Chief Medical Officer for the Watts Healthcare Corporation in Los Angeles, said Blacks are less likely to get vaccinated because of a lack of access to vaccination sites, missing a day of work to get a shot, and possibly more days if there are side effects. Few are actually anti-vaxxers, he said.
Black Americans have also been mistreated by the healthcare system and thus rightly have a distrust of it, said Brooks. “Blacks have been mistreated by the medical system for as long as we have been in this country, going back to the enslaved.” he said. noting that medical schools would use Black bodies as cadavers for college anatomy classes.
Sterilizations were forced upon Black women in the South. And the Tuskegee experiment — also known the US Public Health Service experiment in Alabama — denied treatment for syphilis to Black males for four decades, to assess the impact of the disease when it goes untreated.
In the present day, African Americans are less likely to get cardiac studies and procedures, or treatment for pain. “This is all documented. So I want it to be clear that the mistrust with the medical system is valid,” said Brooks.
Former California state Legislator Cheryl Brown, co-founder of Black Voice News, discussed the necessity of trusted messengers as she introduced Rev. Steven Shepard, pastor of the AME Church in San Bernardino, California.
“He didn’t really want to get a vaccination at first. But he would always talk about how tired he was. He would always talk about he couldn’t keep his eyes open, how he had lost his sense of taste.”
Brown’s husband called the county hospital. A doctor spoke to Shepard and told him to go to the hospital right away. “Five days later, the doctor looked at him and said: ‘You know, people come in your condition, they don’t generally walk out.’”
“The pastor is convinced now that this is something that’s very important for us as African Americans, and he has gone all out. His leadership is what’s changing the trajectory of this vaccine in our community,” said Brown.
“I was on the Covid doorstep of death,” said Shepard. “I did not want to get the vaccine because of some of the issues that both doctors had discussed, and how we’re treated every day when we go into doctors’ offices or to ER rooms.”
But historically, the Black church has served as the epicenter for bringing about positive change in the community, said Shepard. “When I was released from the hospital, I felt it was my job to make sure that our community had the right information. The Bible tells us that our people perish for lack of knowledge.”
“I was so into dealing with what happened in the past, that I did not take the time to realize the science behind the vaccine,” he said.
Alva Brannon, who recently became fully vaccinated, said that she has a distrust of the healthcare system because her father was part of the Tuskegee experiment and did not get treated for his syphilis. Brannon contracted syphilis in utero and lost her vision in childhood. Her mother had to get a court order so that she could receive a corneal transplant.
When her doctor asked her to get vaccinated, the elderly woman initially said no, believing the vaccine would harm her. But a few days later, she got a call from her church, which had set up a vaccination site to administer the single dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine. “I accepted that as a symbol of God, and that it was time,” she said, adding that she then encouraged her children and relatives to get vaccinated as well.
The briefing also featured the premiere of a video-rap created by Christopher Hargrove-Thompson and his roommate Nicholas Buckwalter. The video shows Chris going to CVS to get his shot while rapping about wanting to be safe so he can see his grandmother.
Said Hargrove-Thompson, “A lot of our information is filtered through social media; there’s so much misinformation. Even if you don’t fully believe it, a lot of young people already are so busy and just procrastinate on a variety of things, not just vaccinations. And misinformation allows people to just delay the entire process as a whole.” 

 

Newswire: Black health care workers suffer high rates of COVID-19 infection

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By: Blackman’s Street Today

Medical team

Last year, the heath care industry employed 18.6 million workers.

The majority of those employed were White, but many were Blacks, Hispanic and Asian.

The startling news is that the pandemic is taking a disproportionate toll on health care workers, especially Black workers and their families, reports the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Black adults are more likely than White adults to know someone who has died from the coronavirus.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 26 percent of Blacks were either infected, hospitalized or died from the corornavirus.

Pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Moderna have recently approved vaccines to treat the coronavirus. Many Blacks, however, said they would not take it.

A study reported that if the treatment were given away, many Black adults would refuse to accept the vaccine.

It is not clear why they would not take the vaccines.

Historically, Blacks are suspicious of medicines and the the medical community and are fearful that they will be harmed rather than helped. Blacks have been subjects in medical experiemnts that have had disastrous health consequences, like the 1932 Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Black male subjects were inoculated with syphilis by United States Public Health Service physicians in order to study the course of the disease. The subjects were told that they were to be given free health care.

The number of people have have died in the U.S. from the coronarvirus reached 248,824 and it continues rise.

The Save OurSelves Movement for Justice and Democracy: Standing Six Feet Apart so Alabamians Will Not Be Lying Six Feet Under

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For Immediate Release: Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Montgomery, AL – We, leaders in the SaveOurSelves Movement for Justice and Democracy, are here on the steps of the Alabama Capitol standing up six feet apart so Alabamians will not have to be lying six feet under. We are profoundly concerned about the coronavirus pandemic here in Alabama.
We are deeply concerned that people who need tests cannot get tests. We are strongly concerned that rural hospitals have closed with even more on the verge of closing, and those that are there will not be able to be provide all the services that this coronavirus will require. We are deeply concerned for the health care – or profound lack of health care – for the working poor in our state. We were strongly concerned and vocal long before the coronavirus pandemic. We believe that the lack of health care for too many in Alabama will be exacerbated, not only during this pandemic but long after the pandemic.
We are in the biggest crisis this country has seen in a long time. Alabama is in its biggest crisis in a long time, and it is incumbent upon each of us to do what we can to deal with this crisis and the crisis that will follow. A data analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation found Alabama ranks among the top six most at-risk states for its adult population. Forty-six percent of Alabama adults are at risk. If we do not address this head on now, many more Alabamians will get the coronavirus and too many will die when we could take steps now to prevent that. Therefore, we are here, standing six feet apart so fewer Alabamians will not be lying six feet under. We know we take a risk by being here, even with all of our precautions, but the risk of not standing up and speaking out now and not expanding Medicaid now is profoundly greater. That is why we are here.
Attorney Faya Toure said: “I have a friend who had all of the symptoms of the coronavirus but could not get a test because, after being in line for hours, they told her a doctor had to refer her. People without health insurance have a hard time getting a doctor who will refer them. We must have tests for every person who needs a test in every county in the state. If we expanded Medicaid, Alabamians would have a much greater chance of getting tests and saving lives. In addition, the Black Belt has been ignored throughout the coronavirus pandemic, and that has not changed. There are no reported cases in the Black Belt because there is no testing in the Black Belt. We can and must do better.”
John Zippert said: “I am Chair of the Board of the Greene County Hospital System. Rural hospitals in Alabama are struggling mightily just to exist. Too many have closed and more will be closing. Rural hospitals need to be able to provide these services while the coronavirus is raging but also be able to provide necessary services after the coronavirus pandemic has subsided. And it will only subside if we take action now. Medicaid expansion would protect rural hospitals and citizens in rural hospitals, and it cannot wait. In fact, it is long overdue in Alabama. There are 340,000 human beings in Alabama, most of them working poor, who would benefit from Medicaid expansion. We must do something immediately.”
Law Professor Emerita Martha Morgan said: “There are so many Alabamians at risk because they have compromised immune systems, autoimmune disorders, are mentally ill, have dementia, are in foster care, are in prison or jail or detention and more. There are already plans to triage these Alabamians when it comes to treatment of the coronavirus, which means they very well would not receive any treatment and many will die if Governor Ivey fails to take action. We must do what we can do in Alabama. And we can expand Medicaid now.”
Founder of the World Conference of Mayors and former State Representative and Mayor Johnny Ford said: “Too many people’s heath is at risk. Some people are even at risk for death. The coronavirus pandemic is increasing the risks to health and the risk of death. Fifty-five years ago today, on the last day of the Selma-to-Montgomery March, leaders spoke powerfully at this Capitol demanding voting rights. We are here today demanding that health care be a right as is it in all other developed countries. We begin with Medicaid expansion. I want to also add that it is has been the mayors of our state who have stepped up and taken the lead in protecting Alabamians during this coronavirus pandemic, and we thank them for their leadership, courage and wisdom.”
Attorney and former State Senator Hank Sanders said: “I was here 55 years ago today when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. asked the question, “How Long?” about voting rights and other rights. I and the rest of the massive crowd responded, “Not Long!” We are here today standing six feet apart so that Alabamians will not be lying six feet under. Dr. King asked, “How Long?” 55 years ago, and today we are asking, “How Long” will it be until Alabama expands Medicaid so that the working poor can have health insurance and health care so they can stand a chance to be tested and treated, not only during the coronavirus pandemic but afterwards? I hope and pray the answer to “How Long? is “Not Long!”

Newswire : HIV rates remain high in the Black community

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By Frederick H. Lowe

aids graphic
 AID’s rates among the population
National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day was Wednesday, February 7th, but if you missed the parade that acknowledged the day, you’re not alone because there wasn’t one. There were some panel discussions. But discussions concerning HIV have largely gone silent because many of us erroneously believe the disease has been defeated.
Although HIV infections and HIV deaths have declined in recent years, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates that 1.1 million people are currently living with HIV in the U.S. and 470,000 are African American. This number includes 74,100 individuals who don’t know they are infected and are at higher risk of transmitting the virus.
The disease has continued to cut a deadly swath through the Black community since 1981 when it was first discovered. By U.S. region, the South has the highest rate of recent HIV infections, accounting for the majority of blacks newly diagnosed with the disease, which was 63% in 2016.

HIV/AIDS was the sixth-leading cause of death among black men 20 to 44 years old and the fourth leading cause of death among Black women 35 to 44 in 2015. There are many reasons why this plague continues to spread almost unabated and almost unnoticed throughout the black community, but a significant reason is that the disease is not talked about as much as it was years ago. This relative lack of ongoing public discourse about HIV/ AIDS may have given rise to a false sense of safety in the black community.
The other leading causes of death among Black men are heart disease, cancer, accidents and homicide.
Major reasons for the high rate of HIV infection include poverty, lack of access to health care, higher rates of some other sexually transmitted infections, lack of awareness of HIV status and stigma, stated the Kaiser Family Foundation in its report “Black Americans and HIV/AIDS: The Basics,” published this month.
“Black Americans are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS since the epidemic’s beginning,” reported Kaiser Family Foundation. “Although blacks represent only 12 percent of the U.S. population, they account for 43 percent of HIV diagnoses; 43 percent of people living with HIV and 44 percent of people who have died from HIV, which is a rate greater than that of any other racial or ethnic group (see chart below).
The Black community’s lack knowledge about medicines that control the virus and their reluctance or refusal to take advantage of available treatment options has also contributed to HIV’s spread.
Kaiser published its report years after the introduction of PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis, commercially called Truvada), which helps prevent individuals who are HIV-negative from contracting HIV. Although PrEP was introduced five years ago, it is not well known among blacks.
Gilead Sciences, Inc., which manufactures the only Food Drug Administration-approved form of PrEP, reported the drug’s uptake was low among African Americans. Between 2012 and 2015, only 10% of all new PrEP prescriptions were written for blacks.
Blacks also did not take the threat of HIV/AIDS seriously, probably because of a lack of information.
The late comedian Robin Harris told a joke about black people wanting AIDS because they believed it was money being given to white gay men who at the time were the largest group suffering from HIV infections. “Iwant some of that aid,” said Harris,” mimicking a black man in his comedy routine.
I worked in Philadelphia as a reporter for the Philadelphia Daily News. The Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists sponsored a luncheon on HIV/AIDS. We went to black gay bars to tell people about the event.
A startling number said they would not attend because they did not care if they contracted HIV/AIDS.

A reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer said she wasn’t going to attend because she did not to be in the same room with gay men and women. Needless to say, the luncheon was lightly attended.
But one woman who served food at the luncheon said she had heard about HIV/AIDS, but this was the first time it had been explained to her. She thanked the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists for hosting the event.
There are other reasons why HIV has spread unchecked in the black community.
Kaiser reports that the course from HIV diagnosis to viral suppression reveals missed opportunities in reaching blacks.
“While 84% of blacks are diagnosed, 46% remain in regular care and 43% are virally suppressed. Blacks also may be less likely to sustain viral suppression.” (This occurs when antiretroviral therapy, ART, reduces a person’s viral load, or HIV RNA, reduces the viral load to an undetectable level. Viral suppression does not mean a person is cured; HIV remains in the body, but it is checked).
Meanwhile, HIV is very much here. It’s an ever-present danger and one that’s getting worse though we’re being assured that it is getting better.
In 2015, African Americans had the highest age-adjusted HIV-death rate —- 7.9 per 100,000, compared with 1.1 per 100,000 for whites.
Newly diagnosed black gay and bisexual men are younger than their white counterparts, with those aged 13 to 24 accounting for 36% of new HIV diagnoses among black gay and bisexual men in 2016 compared to 15 percent among whites.
Charts by Frederick H. Lowe

Newswire : Poll: 70% of Marketplace enrollees satisfied with Obamacare

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By Freddie Allen (Editor-In-Chief, NNPA Newswire)
President Donald Trump continues to sow confusion about the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, shows that, although some of his tactics are working, many consumers still plan on signing up for healthcare during the open enrollment period.
The ACA open enrollment period started on November 1 and will end December 15 in most states and despite its critics, the law has effectively reduced the uninsured rate for Blacks; healthcare advocates have said that access to preventive care provided by the ACA could also limit the effects of healthcare disparities, like infant mortality rates and deaths from breast cancer among Black women.
Even though the ACA, also known as Obamacare, provided healthcare to millions of Americans—some of them Trump supporters—the current president has worked to cripple the law in tweets and actions.
Deep cuts to funding for advertising about the ACA are having expected results.
In previous years, television ads played a key role in educating people about open enrollment and the ins and outs of the ACA. Trump cut that advertising budget to the bone.
According to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) poll, “few of those most likely to consider marketplace coverage report hearing or seeing any ads providing information about how to get insurance under the health care law.”
Less than 20 percent of the uninsured and just 12 percent of market enrollees said that they saw ads in the past 30 days that provided information about how to get insurance.
The poll also reported that just 5 percent of the uninsured and 25 percent of the marketplace enrollees were aware of the month when open enrollment ends in their state.
Despite White House efforts to discourage Americans from signing up for healthcare and the House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) claims that people would choose not buy Obamacare, if the government didn’t force them, 90 percent of marketplace enrollees said that they would continue to buy their own insurance, even if the government stopped enforcing the individual mandate.
Most marketplace enrollees like their health insurance under the ACA.
The KFF poll revealed that 70 percent of current marketplace enrollees are satisfied with their insurance choices.
“The vast majority (85 percent) of marketplace enrollees also say they plan to sign up for health insurance during the 2018 open enrollment period, and most of them (54 percent of the total marketplace enrollees) prefer to renew their current plan if it is available next year,” according to the KFF poll.
Most enrollees will also get help paying for healthcare through the ACA.
“Insurers are still required by law to provide reduced deductibles and co-pays for low-income marketplace enrollees,” said Larry Levitt, senior vice president for special initiatives and co-executive director of the Foundation’s Program for the Study of Health Reform and Private Insurance. “Premiums are increasing, but consumers will also get more help.”
Even though consumers will get help paying for health insurance, this isn’t President Obama’s open enrollment; many things have changed so it’s important to start reviewing plans now.
Don’t just “auto-renew” your health insurance plan. Study your options carefully.
In previous years, the healthcare marketplace auto-renewed consumers for the upcoming coverage year. According to the KFF poll, almost 25 percent of marketplace enrollees were auto-renewed for their same plan or auto-reassigned to similar plans in 2016 for the 2017 coverage year.
But experts have said that the auto-renewal feature may not identify the subsidies that you’re eligible for accurately and when it comes to prescriptions or other life-saving services that you need, you’ll want to make sure that any similar plan fits your needs.
Remember, it’s best to enroll early; don’t wait until the last minute.
During previous enrollment periods, there has been a surge of interest as the deadline nears; that increased activity slowed down the responsiveness of HealthCare.gov and created longer wait times for the marketplace call center, said Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow at the Kaiser Family Foundation.
“Log-in to HealthCare.gov, update your application for financial assistance, review your plan choices and what they cost, and select a plan for 2018,” said Pollitz. “If you want the same plan, select the same plan.”
Whether you choose the same health insurance plan or a new one, don’t wait until the last minute to make your decision. This year, thanks to Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress, if you have questions about plans in the final hours of the enrollment period, you might just be on your own.