Despite a world-class health care system that has turned its focus in recent years to bridging inequalities, New Jersey has more severe racial and ethnic disparities than other states in the region, a report released Thursday found.
The report by The Commonwealth Fund showed Black residents in the Garden State are twice as likely to die from preventable causes before age 75 as white residents, and Hispanic residents were six times more likely to be uninsured.
“Even in high-performing states, we see significant disparities,” said Dr. Joseph Betancourt, president of The Commonwealth Fund. “This report demonstrates that if you don’t look under the hood, you won’t identify where you are failing people, and where you are leaving people behind.”
The Commonwealth Fund, a New York-based research firm, measured health care outcomes, access and quality by race and ethnicity for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It looked at data from two dozen indicators, including preventable deaths, infant mortality, insurance rates, and cancer screenings.
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The study came as New Jersey policymakers and its biggest health care systems have tried to expand access to underserved communities. Statewide, the Murphy administration, for example, has touted record-setting enrollment in the state-operated insurance market. More locally, policymakers are trying to attract primary care doctors to towns such as Red Bank, Keyport, Asbury Park and Freehold.
New Jersey’s health care system, however, produced mixed results: The state’s Asian and white residents have some of the best results nationwide, but Black and Latino residents fall below the national average.
Among the findings:
- Black residents were more than twice as likely to die before the of 75 from treatable causes than white residents.
- The mortality rate for Black infants is three times higher than it is for white infants.
- Black residents are 31% more likely to die from colorectal cancer and 25% more likely to die from breast cancer than white residents.
- Nearly a quarter of Hispanic adults were uninsured, compared with 4% of white adults.
- And 67% of Hispanic adults said they had a usual source of health care, compared with 90% of white adults.
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Dr. David Kountz, vice president of academic affairs at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, said the results were a sign that the health care system remains out of reach, particularly for a population that historically has been underserved.
For example: The study found Black residents in New Jersey are nearly twice as likely as white residents to be readmitted to hospitals within 30 days of being discharged, a measure that is seen by health officials as a key indicator of whether patients have access to care aside from hospitals.
One explanation for the sharp disparity? Black patients might be less likely than white patients to speak up for themselves and find health providers they trust, Kountz said.
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“It’s challenging,” Kountz said of trying to find answers to racial and ethnic disparities in health care. “It’s challenging, it’s at times demoralizing, but we’ve got to stick with it because behind all those statistics are real people. And we want them to live their best lives. And having the best health care is part of it.”
In some instances, New Jersey appears to be making strides. The number of preventable hospitalizations and emergency room visits among Black patients fell 16% and 24% respectively, compared with 2021, The Commonwealth Fund studies show.
And health officials are highlighting the disparity. CarePlus NJ, a health provider based in Paramus, is hosting an online panel discussion from 10 a.m. to noon April 19 about mental health challenges facing Black mothers with newborns.
The group noted that Black women are twice as likely to experience mental health conditions as white women, but half as likely to receive treatment.
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Progress has been slow, researchers with The Commonwealth Fund said. They called for policymakers to strengthen primary care and invest in social services such as schools, nutrition and transportation that have been shown to have a connection to health.
“We still have a lot of work to do,” said Dr. Laurie Zephyrin, the group’s senior vice president for advancing equity. “This continued measurement is actually important, so we can hopefully monitor progress over time and maybe in a decade we’ll look at the data and see some of these gaps closing.”
Michael L. Diamond is a business reporter who has been writing about the New Jersey economy and health care industry for more than 20 years. He can be reached at mdiamond@gannettnj.com.