Story at a glance
- The coronavirus pandemic has disproportionately affected BIPOC communities, many of which were already disadvantaged.
- A new poll finds more than half of Latinx, Black and Native American households are struggling financially.
- The survey also reveals inequity in access to health care and other resources.
Majorities of Latinx, Black and Native American households are facing serious financial problems during the coronavirus outbreak, according to a new NPR/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health poll.
Compared to 37 percent of Asian households and 36 percent of white households reporting serious financial problems, 72 percent of Latinx households, 60 percent of Black households and 55 percent of Native American households reported the same in a poll between July 1 and Aug. 3 of more than 3,000 U.S. adults.
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“Before federal coronavirus support programs even expired, we find millions of people with very serious problems with their finances, health care, and with caring for children,” said Robert J. Blendon, co-director of the survey and professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “Though we want to believe we are all in this together, findings show problems concentrated in people who earn less than $100,000, people who have lost wages or jobs, and Black and Latino Americans.”
About 4 in 10 Latinx, Black and Native American households reported using up all or most of their savings, while almost 3 in 10 reported problems paying bills for utilities and mortgage or rent. In Native American households, about 1 in 4 reported serious problems affording food during the pandemic while about half reported trouble with getting internet connection for work or school.
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The survey also asked about access to health care. One in 5 Black households, 1 in 4 Latinx households and 1 in 3 Native American households said they had been unable to get medical care for a serious problem when they needed it during the coronavirus pandemic.
“This pandemic has revealed glaring problems in the nation’s healthcare system,,” said Richard Besser, President and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “At a time when a significant number of people need health care most, many cannot get it. We need to be able to provide safe, affordable health care for people with Covid-19 as well as for the many with chronic medical conditions so rampant in America. It is unacceptable that in a wealthy nation like ours factors such as income or race play such a big role in health care access.”
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