Nurses are patient advocates and interact with different individuals who suffer from existing health disparities that reduce their access to health care services and quality care outcomes. The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine emphasizes the critical role that nurses will play in the next decade to achieve health equity (Bode, 2022). The purpose of this legislation grid is to analyze a bill to reduce health disparities and the role of nurses in advocating its enactment to attain health equity by reducing the current health disparities.
| Health-related Bill Name | Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2022 |
| Bill Number | H. R. 7585 |
| Description | Introduced by Representative Kelly Robin (Democrat for Illinois’s second Congressional district), the bill requires the Health and Human Service Department and other agencies to implement different interventions aimed at reducing health disparities (Congress.GOV, 2022). The bill aims at making the U.S. health care system not only equitable but also accessible for everyone, irrespective of their diversity and legal status in the country.
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| Federal or State? | Federal |
| Legislative Intent | The legislative intent of the bill is to ensure that Congress creates policies aimed at addressing the link between health inequities and demographic factors like race and ethnicity, immigration status, age, disability and sex, gender, sexual orientation and expression as well as language and socioeconomic status. The bill has over 80 cosponsors and support from 60 stakeholder groups and organizations (Congress.GOV, 2022). The bill implores the Health and Human Services Department to focus on ten areas associated with health equity to reduce disparities. The bill requires the department to support health workforce diversity and increase access to culturally and linguistically appropriate care. It also proposes changes to eligibility and requirements for Medicare and Medicaid as well as private health insurance and nutritional assistance. These programs among others aim at reducing health disparities. |
| Proponents/ Opponents | Proponents: The bill has diverse proponents that include over 80 Congressional members and close to 60 stakeholder groups in healthcare and related sectors. The bill emphasizes the need to improve quality care delivery for all people across the health and age continuum. It has certain provisions for noncitizens and ethnic minority groups. |
| Opponents: Currently, there has been no documented opposition to the bill, both in and outside Congress. | |
| Target Population | The bill targets the general population because of its components. The bill has wide provisions for different demographics, from support to health workforce to improving accessibility by even noncitizens to illustrate its wide scope and target. |
| Status of the bill (Is it in hearings or committees?) | The bill has had eighteen actions and been to 13 committees. Currently, the bill is in the House and been reviewed or tabled and debated in different committees that include Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, Education and Labor, Agriculture and Budget, Judiciary and Homeland Security as well as Financial Services and Transportation and Infrastructure. |
| General Notes/Comments
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The bill is critical to addressing the current disparities in health care to ensure health equity for all people in the country. With over 80 cosponsors, the bill is poised to be passed and will have significant transformation of the health care industry, especially efforts to reduce health disparities and achieve equity. |
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