Contact: Ira R. Allen
202.387.2829
bmoore@cfah.org

Statement from the Center for the Advancement of Health

Regarding JAMA release "Claims-Based Measurement Shows Many Medicare Patients Do Not Receive Necessary Care."

Comment by Jessie C. Gruman, PhD, executive director of The Center for the Advancement of Health and a leading authority on the social, psychological and economic determinants of health:

"The RAND study reinforces other data strongly associating socioeconomic status with health and longevity. It isn't only a matter of money; the entire health care system must learn how to lower barriers to access, and patients themselves must feel comfortable in seeking and adhering to advice from physicians.

'The public policy implications of this research loom larger with the growing disparity between rich and poor, and the added dimension here is race. Poor blacks and poor whites report comparable levels of ill health, but blacks are disproportionately represented among the poor, and thus suffer disproportionately the health consequences of poverty, compounded by the stresses of racism."

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