OA JF, March 17, 2022, Addressing Structural Inequities, a Necessary Step Toward Ensuring Equitable Access to Telehealth for Medication Abortion Care During and Post COVID-19
Research indicates that health disparities based on social status and race/ethnicity exist and persist in the US.
A past filled with disinvestments and isolation of communities of color keep telehealth from reaching its full potential. Initially, this can be tied to the practice of redlining, a now outlawed practice of manipulating home lending and ownership that is strongly associated with segregation in neighborhoods, separating Black from Whites. This separation was associated with increasing investments in White neighborhoods, such as health centers, grocery stores, and green spaces, and few to no such investments in Black neighborhoods (45). While officially outlawed in 1968, with the Fair Housing Act (46), the impact of redlining is still found today in the increased health disparities and more recently, stronger impacts of COVID-19 in Black and Latinx neighborhoods (47).
47. National Community Reinvestment Coalition. Redlining and Neighborhood Health [Internet]. Washington DC: National Community Reinvestment Coalition (2020). Available online at: https://ncrc.org/holc-health/
