How Medicaid Directors Are Committing to Advancing Equity

The COVID crisis is revealing the extent of the disparities facing black, indigenous, and people of color. People of color are infected by COVID and dying of COVID at rates higher than their percentage of the population. Black, Hispanic, and American Indian and Alaska Native people are also at higher risk of being hospitalized with COVID. Medicaid has an opportunity and a responsibility to lead efforts to advance health equity by virtue of the population it serves and its unique leverage point within states as a payer. Medicaid Directors at NAMD’s Fall 2020 meeting illustrated how they are taking steps to address equity both internally, among their staff, and externally, among the members they serve.