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The Business Case for Advancing Health Equity is Undeniable
Counting the Cost of Health Inequity
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines health equity as the state in which every person has the opportunity to attain their full health potential, and no one is disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or socially determined circumstances like education, access to quality schools, affordable housing, income, assets, and other factors.
Improving the value of our health care system cannot occur unless we improve the quality for all. Health inequities exist among those privately insured, uninsured, and underinsured. Currently, health inequities cost the United States $320 billion annually, and if left unaddressed, will cost $1 trillion by 2040.
Collective Impact
With nearly 55% of Americans receiving employer-sponsored insurance, the business community absorbs many of these burgeoning health care costs – with costs escalating into double digits annually. The Kansas City Health Equity Learning and Action Network is a movement focused on developing capability and capacity within the health ecosystem to advance health equity. We center solutions around the people most impacted by inequities, which are people of color, who make up 33% of the U.S. population.
Employers with significant representation of people of color, and/or lower-wage workers, like city and county government, hospitals, school districts, manufacturing, agriculture, etc., are all directly affected by health equity. Similarly, employers with minimal representation of people of color are affected, as many people including LGBTQ+ individuals, rural residents, people with disabilities, and those living in poverty, also experience health inequities.
The Rising Tide…
The LAN, powered by 52 member organizations, is working collectively to center health equity and address inequities in everything from diabetes management, to race-based algorithms that assess kidney functioning, to birth equity, and much more. The end goal is to advance health equity so that every person seeking care has the opportunity to attain their full health potential, and no one is disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or socially determined circumstances. We know when we improve health outcomes for the most marginalized groups, health care – and its economics – improves for all.
Health Equity is Heart Work.
Join this Effort.
Your investment helps us advance health equity in real time. To learn more about the strides we’ve made since we started this health equity movement in 2022, download our 2022-2024 Impact Report. Also, listen and watch as LAN members talk about doing the work of health equity in the communities they serve, and how the LAN continues to make an impact. Help us continue this heart work.
With deep gratitude, we thank you for your support:
The Sunderland Foundation
Hall Family Foundation
William T. Kemper Foundation
Blue KC: Community Wellness Fund
BioNexusKC
Patterson Family Foundation
Prime Health Foundation
JE Dunn Construction Group
“You can’t have quality without equity, and you can’t have equity without quality.”