Medicare and Communities of Color

Medicare Brief No. 11 ~ November 2004

Introduction: Medicare and Communities of Color originates from topics in The Role of Private Health Plans in Medicare: Lessons from the Past, Looking to the Future, the final report of the Study Panel on Medicare and Markets convened by the National Academy of Social Insurance. The brief also updates information from the Kaiser Family Foundation's 1999 brief, Faces of Medicare: Medicare and Minority Americans. Medicare and Communities of Color is a factual presentation highlighting principal issues in Medicare's interaction with people of color. A National Academy of Social Insurance study panel is examining how Medicare can be a leader in reducing racial and ethnic health disparities among its beneficiaries and the rest of the health system.