Feds Urged To Classify Disability As A Health Disparity

Disability advocates are asking the Biden administration to step in after a government advisory panel squashed plans to put more resources toward addressing the persistent disparities people with disabilities face in the health care system.

The National Advisory Council on Minority Health and Health Disparities at the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities rejected a plan earlier this month to designate those with disabilities as a health disparity population.

The move came as a blow to advocates who saw the label as a way to help chip away at discrimination experienced regularly in the medical field. The designation would allow the National Institutes of Health to fund research specifically focused on the disparities in health care experienced by those with disabilities while also promoting recruitment of researchers with disabilities and research participants with disabilities.

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