Kentucky governor promises health-care coverage to '100 percent' of 'black community'


Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) has announced his commitment to combating racial inequalities in health care exposed during the coronavirus pandemic.
COVID-19 has disproportionately infected and killed black people across the U.S., including in Kentucky. Its population is 8.4 percent black, but 16 percent of those who died of coronavirus are black. Beshear brought up that disproportionate data in a Monday press conference, and then announced he was committing to "begin an effort to cover 100 percent of our individuals in our black and African American communities, everybody."
Racial inequality has always been rampant in the health care industry, contributing to black Americans' disproportionately low survival rates when it comes to cancer, giving birth, and health outcomes as a whole. Beshear acknowledged those longstanding issues, but added that COVID-19 had "laid them bare." So in an effort to guarantee everyone the "human right" that is health care, Beshear announced a plan to guarantee everyone can access health care, promising "we are going to be putting dollars behind it and we're going to have a multi-faceted campaign to do it." Beshear didn't mention any sort of numbers or steps toward achieving that goal.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Watch his whole announcement below. Kathryn Krawczyk
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
May 24 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons feature Medicare and Medicaid cuts, James Comey's social media post, and Trump's big beautiful bill.
-
5 cartoons about the Russia-Ukraine peace talks
Cartoons Artists take on a stand-in for Vladimir Putin and phone calls with Donald Trump.
-
Donald Trump's foreign policy flip in the Middle East
Talking Point Surprise lifting of sanctions on Syria shows Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar are now effectively 'dictating US foreign policy'
-
New FDA chiefs limit Covid-19 shots to elderly, sick
speed read The FDA set stricter approval standards for booster shots
-
US overdose deaths plunged 27% last year
speed read Drug overdose still 'remains the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-44,' said the CDC
-
Trump seeks to cut drug prices via executive order
speed read The president's order tells pharmaceutical companies to lower prescription drug prices, but it will likely be thrown out by the courts
-
RFK Jr. visits Texas as 2nd child dies from measles
Speed Read An outbreak of the vaccine-preventable disease continues to grow following a decade of no recorded US measles deaths
-
Shingles vaccine cuts dementia risk, study finds
Speed Read Getting vaccinated appears to significantly reduce the chances of developing Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia
-
Measles outbreak spreads, as does RFK Jr.'s influence
Speed Read The outbreak centered in Texas has grown to at least three states and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is promoting unproven treatments
-
RFK Jr. offers alternative remedies as measles spreads
Speed Read Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. makes unsupported claims about containing the spread as vaccine skepticism grows
-
Texas outbreak brings 1st US measles death since 2015
Speed read The outbreak is concentrated in a 'close-knit, undervaccinated' Mennonite community in rural Gaines County