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With our partner, the Connecticut Health Foundation, Connecticut Public Radio's Health Equity and Access Project strives to create awareness about Health Access and advance Health Equity among Connecticut residents, businesses, the educational community, the health care sector, community leaders, and policymakers.As the only statewide public radio station, Connecticut Public Radio has the flexibility and resources to educate Connecticut residents about health disparities through in-depth reporting, hour-long programs, and community events.Visit the Connecticut Health Foundation at cthealth.org.

Access and Equity: Can We Get Affordable Care to All of Connecticut?

Connecticut Public Radio | By Tucker Ives,

Catie Talarski

Published November 12, 2013 at 8:00 AM EST

Last week, we recorded our second “Health Equity Forum” in collaboration with the Connecticut Health Foundation. In our first of these town halls, we began with these sobering statistics: In Connecticut, pregnant black women are 2x more likely to deliver a smaller baby early, black men are 2x more likely to die of prostate cancer than white men, with overall life expectancy for black men significantly shorter than for their white peers.

And we could continue to read you numbers like that to define why this health equity project exists - in short: Members of minority groups in America suffer far worse health outcomes than their white peers.

Now, there’s a new variable in this discussion - The Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as “Obamacare.” So that’s the topic of today's discussion. “Access and Equity: Can We Get Affordable Care to all of Connecticut?”

GUESTS:

Ida Colón - Health educator with the Hispanic Health Council
Kevin Counihan - CEO, Access Health CT
Gregory Jones - Chairman, Omega Foundation of Hartford
Fred McKinney, Ph.D. - President and CEO, Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council

Access and Equity: Can We Get Affordable Care to All of Connecticut?

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