Health Policy and Management Chair and Professor Thomas LaVeist is the first author of a report commissioned by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a non-partisan, non-profit public policy organization that supports elected officials and policy experts who serve communities of color across the country. The Economic Burden of Health Inequalities in the United States is widely cited.
LaVeist carried out the research presented in the report while he was at Johns Hopkins University in collaboration with leading researchers from the University of Maryland and GW. It provides important insight into how much of a financial burden racial disparities are putting on our health care system and society at large. The researchers examined the direct costs associated with the provision of care to a sicker and more disadvantaged population, as well as the indirect costs of health inequities such as lost productivity, lost wages, absenteeism, family leave, and premature death.
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