L.A. Care Health Plan, the largest publicly operated health plan in the country, informed California State Senator Richard Pan that it stands in support of his bill declaring that racism is a public health crisis. If passed, Senate Bill 17 will instruct the California Department of Public health to address racism by working with the state’s Health In all Policies Program, the California Department of Public Health Office of Health Equity, and other relevant departments, agencies and stakeholders.
Last summer, at the height of social unrest after the death of a George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of Minneapolis police, and at a time when the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 in communities of color was becoming all too clear, L.A. Care’s Board of Governors approved a Statement of Principles on Social Justice and Systemic Racism. Not long after that, L.A. Care CEO John Baackes penned a blog that, like Senator Pan, stated racism is a public health crisis.
In a letter to Pan this week, Baackes told the senator that his bill is addressing a very important issue and would empower people in California to combat racism on a broad level. Supporting the bill comes naturally for a health plan that has a mission, vision and values committed to “cultural diversity and the knowledge necessary to serve members with respect and competence.”
SB 17 Amended
On February 25, SB 17 was amended. The bill now calls for establishment of an independent Office of Racial Equity that will be governed by the Racial Equity Advisory and Accountability Council. The bill calls on the new office to analyze, develop, evaluate, and recommend strategies for advancing racial equity across state agencies, department and the office of the governor. The office would develop a statewide Racial Equity Framework, which among other things would provide guidelines for inclusive policies and practices that reduce racial inequities, promote racial equity, and address individual, institutional, and structural racism. L.A. Care continues to support SB 17.