On Thursday, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions held the hearing, “Examining our COVID-19 Response: Improving Health Equity and Outcomes by Addressing Health Disparities,” to examine the COVID-19 response, focusing on improving health equity and outcomes, as well as addressing health disparities. Witnesses testifying before the lawmakers were:

• Consuelo H. Wilkins, MD, MSCI, Vice President for Health Equity, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
• Abigail Echo-Hawk, Executive Vice President, Seattle Indian Health Board
• Taryn Mackenzie Williams, Managing Director, Poverty to Prosperity, Center for American Progress
• Gene A. Woods, President and Chief Executive Officer, Atrium Health

The health officials testifying before the panel spoke in a collective voice regarding the disparate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on marginalized communities. Dr. Wilkins—as well as the others testifying—remarked during her testimony that African Americans, American Indians, Hispanics, and Latinos have borne the burden of the disease, and are 2 to 2 ½ times as likely to die from COVID-19. Dr. Wilkins added that during vaccine rollout, these communities have been vaccinated at half the rate of their White counterparts. Dr. Wilkins noted that language barriers also play a role in the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities, with Spanish and Arabic language speakers at the greatest disadvantage.

In her testimony, Ms. Echo-Hawk noted that the “crumbling” public health data infrastructure is not equipped to collect data on race and ethnicity—failing to reveal where gaps exist, inhibiting equity and resources to follow. NACCHO has been an advocate for increased funding to modernize the nation’s public health data infrastructure, and the latest COVID package has an additional $500 million to address public health data infrastructure.

Speaking from her experience at the Seattle Indian Health Board, Ms. Echo-Hawk noted that Native Americans had been under-enrolled in vaccine trials, adding that concerns of diversity in vaccine trials have become fodder to disincentivize minorities from getting vaccinated. Ms. Echo-Hawk added that part of the current challenge for vaccine enrollment has been the widespread lack of broadband in rural communities, where many reservations are located.

In her testimony, Ms. Williams, an advocate for individuals with disabilities, agreed with other witnesses testifying on the panel and noted that individuals with disabilities have also faced the disproportionate impact of the pandemic. Ms. Williams highlighted a cross‐sectional study that revealed “having an intellectual disability was the strongest independent risk factor measured for presenting with a COVID‐19 diagnosis, and the strongest independent risk factor other than age for COVID‐19 mortality.”

In her testimony, Ms. Williams also applauded the Affordable Care Act (ACA), noting that while job loss was significant during the economic downturn, un-insurance rates did not spike as drastically as many expected, due to the robust programs under the ACA that helps individuals find new sources of coverage.

It has been reported that the special enrollment period enacted by President Biden has already seen 200,000 individuals sign up for coverage in the first two weeks of the period. On the 11th anniversary of the law, The Biden Administration announced that the special pandemic enrollment period would be extended for an additional three months, along with enhanced health insurance subsidies beginning on April 1. The Kaiser Family Foundation is reporting that 3.7 million Americans are newly eligible for the health insurance subsidies.

Ms. Williams ended her testimony by calling on Congress to further incentivize Medicaid expansion for states that have not expanded since 2014, as a solution to reduce the number of Americans that lack health care coverage.

In his testimony, Mr. Woods noted that his organization—Atrium Health—created a COVID-19 geographic information system (GIS) map that gathered data on COVID-19 geographic spread, hot spots, testing density, median income, higher poverty zip codes, and minority communities to assist in tackling health disparities. Mr. Woods noted that Atrium’s GIS map was successful in assisting in testing and screening during the early months of the pandemic.

Other issues raised during the hearing were transportation to vaccine sites, delayed care in essential services—such as mammograms and routine clinical check-ups, trusted community messengers, and the long-term implementation of the child tax credit that was included in the American Rescue Plan.