State of the Dream 2014 - Key Findings

Health Related Findings

  • Poor Blacks and poor Latinos are significantly more likely than poor Whites to live in high-poverty neighborhoods that exacerbate health problems due to limited access to healthcare services, healthful food, and green space; higher exposure to lead and other toxins; and physical stresses from crime, poverty, and racism itself.
  • Blacks and Latinos also suffer from lower levels of health insurance: 29 percent of Latinos, 19 percent of Blacks, 15 percent of Asians, and 11 percent of Whites were uninsured in 2012.
  • The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”) will, if fully implemented, extend healthcare coverage to roughly half of the 50 million uninsured individuals in the nation by 2016. This includes 14.7 million people who will get their insurance through the new health insurance exchanges and another 10 million people who will get health insurance through the expansion of the Medicaid program in all 50 states and the District of Columbia as called for in the ACA.
  • Additional provisions in the ACA would expand access to quality health services in low-income communities and increase the cultural competency and diversity of healthcare professionals working with communities of color.
  • Currently, however, 25 states—all but three of them headed by Republican governors—are not planning to expand their Medicaid programs in 2014. (Two of those 25 states are planning to expand after 2014.)
  • Of the 10 million people who would have received healthcare under the expanded Medicaid program, 5 million will now fall through the new 25-state coverage gap—a group that is made up disproportionately of people of color.
  • While Whites represent 65 percent of the nation's population (excluding undocumented immigrants), they account for just 47 percent of those who will fall through the new 25-state coverage gap.
  • While Blacks make up only 13 percent of the nation's population (excluding undocumented immigrants), they represent 27 percent of those who will fall through the new 25-state coverage gap.
  • While Latinos represent 15 percent of the nation's population (excluding undocumented immigrants), they represent 21 percent of those who will now fall through the 25-state coverage gap.

General Inequality Findings

  • Among adults 25 years of age or older, 35 percent of Whites have a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to only 21 percent of Blacks and 15 percent of Latinos.
  • As greater numbers of Blacks and Latinos have moved into institutions of higher learning in recent decades, taxpayer funding for higher education has diminished. In 1987, 77 percent of public higher education costs were funded through tax dollars. By 2012, tax dollars covered only 47 percent of higher education costs, forcing hikes in tuition and fees and making education less accessible to lower-income students of all races.
  • Blacks and Latinos have made limited progress in closing the unemployment gap over the past three decades. As of November 2013, the unemployment rate was 12.5 percent among Blacks, as compared to 8.7 percent for Latinos and 6.2 percent for Whites.
  • Closing the educational attainment gap is not sufficient to close the employment gap. Based on 2012 annual averages, 6.3 percent of Blacks and 5.1 percent of Latinos with a bachelor’s degree or higher were unemployed, compared to only 3.7 percent of Whites.
  • In 2012, the median family income for Whites was $71,500 as compared to $40,800 for Latinos and $40,500 for Blacks. That is, Black and Latino families earned 57 cents to every dollar that White families earned.
  • Black men earn 64 cents and Latino men earn 63 cents to each dollar White men earn. Women lag behind men in all three racial groups.
  • In 2012, 27 percent of Blacks and 26 percent of Latinos were living at or below the federal poverty line, compared to 10 percent of Whites.
  • In 2012, 74 percent of Whites owned their own homes, compared to 44 percent of Blacks and 46 percent of Latinos.
  • As of 2010, the median White household—the one at the center of the wealth distribution—had $123,300 in net wealth, compared to $15,600 for Blacks and $15,000 for Latinos. This means that Blacks held 13 cents of net wealth and Latinos held 12 cents of net wealth to every dollar Whites held.

All findings are sourced in the PDF.

Download the report (PDF)  |  Executive Summary  | Media Coverage & Overview

Related Infographics – Medicaid Opt-Out States  ...more to come!

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