We’re thinking about [health care inequality] across all policy domains and all policy areas,” Nunez-Smith told POLITICO this week in one of her first interviews since joining the transition. “I’m not the only voice at the table centering us in that way. That’s exactly what we need to be doing.”
Nunez-Smith faces a daunting task. Minorities have less access to health care, less trust in the health care system, a higher rate of chronic conditions like diabetes that elevate the risk for Covid – and the Trump administration’s disjointed response to the pandemic has meant testing, contact tracing and other public health measures aren’t always reaching them. They have poorer housing, less education, worse access to food and public transport – all of which contribute to worse health. In addition, minorities are more likely to be essential workers; people who stock grocery shelves, staff public transit systems, or take care of frail elderly people in nursing homes.
“Many people are sacrificing on the front line and don’t have the luxury of social distancing,” said Nunez-Smith, who during a virtual Biden roundtable on Wednesday introduced front-line health care workers who shared their experiences.
Coronavirus Dispatch: Battling the virus after election
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Biden assembled a health team even before he clinched the nomination and was getting briefed almost daily by March. In August, watching sickness, deaths and job loss in minority communities get worse and worse, Biden’s advisers wanted someone to brief the candidate on how to address the deep inequities – now and as the country envisions its post-pandemic health care system.
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