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CT has some of the best health outcomes in nation, but racial and ethnic disparities are stark

FILE: Medical students give a check-up to a Jamaican migrant worker on a H2A visa at a Connecticut apple orchard and farm on October 11, 2017 in Middlefield, Connecticut. The University of Connecticut Migrant Farm Worker Clinics visit area farms and nurseries from June to October offering health screenings and preventive health education for migrant farm workers and their families. There are an estimated 3.5 million migrant and seasonal farm workers in the United States according to the United States Public Health Service. Many of these workers lack access to health professionals due to language barriers, a lack of transportation and fears of deportation.
Spencer Platt
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FILE: Medical students give a check-up to a Jamaican migrant worker on a H2A visa at a Connecticut apple orchard and farm on October 11, 2017 in Middlefield, Connecticut. The University of Connecticut Migrant Farm Worker Clinics visit area farms and nurseries from June to October offering health screenings and preventive health education for migrant farm workers and their families. There are an estimated 3.5 million migrant and seasonal farm workers in the United States according to the United States Public Health Service. Many of these workers lack access to health professionals due to language barriers, a lack of transportation and fears of deportation.

Health care system disparities in the U.S. differ vastly for Black and Hispanic people compared to white people, according to a new Commonwealth Fund study released Thursday. Compared within New England, Connecticut has more severe racial and ethnic disparities.

Black people in Connecticut had among the best health care compared to 39 states where data was available — ranking fifth out of 39. But within that data, racial gaps are huge in Connecticut and the health system performed the worst for Black people in the state.

People who are Black were over two times more likely than white people to die before the age of 75 from causes that are treatable. Black people, aged 65 and older, made nearly double the potentially avoidable ER visits compared to white people, and had nearly double the hospital readmission rate within 30 days. Over three times more Black babies died than white babies.

In Connecticut, 16% percent of the Hispanic population was uninsured, compared to 4% of the state’s white population.

For Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders, health outcomes were among the best compared to 31 states where data was available.

White people living in Connecticut overall had some of the best health outcomes in the nation — ranking fourth.

Sujata Srinivasan is Connecticut Public Radio’s senior health reporter. Prior to that, she was a senior producer for Where We Live, a newsroom editor, and from 2010-2014, a business reporter for the station.