Copyright Baltimore Sun
In a recent letter (“Maryland’s health care inequity problem,” Nov. 4), Carmen Parada points out the impact of health care disparities in Maryland. The problem is especially acute in Baltimore City, where the age-adjusted mortality rate is 40% higher than the rest of the state. It is striking that differences in availability of safe housing and food and access to health care services translate to a two-decade difference in life expectancy depending on where one lives in Baltimore: 66 years for those living in Greenmount East compared with 84 years for those in Roland Park. What is the Trump administration’s answer to health care inequities? Terminate $1.81 billion in National Institutes of Health research grants to study minority health issues and health disparities and terminate over $200 million from the budget of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of Health and Human Services, has declared a goal to Make America Healthy Again, but cuts to research and programs focused on minority health raise serious questions about whether that goal extends to communities most disadvantaged by health care inequities. — Beryl Rosenstein, Pikesville
