Disparities

How Midwives and Doulas Are Working to End Birth Disparities

Across California, midwives and doulas are working to increase access to their services to more Black and brown women. Organizations are also raising awareness about the options people have to welcome a child into the world.

Some “women of color are unaware that there’s another way to be in your pregnancy, labor and birth, and postpartum than what’s generally done and prescribed,” said Laura Perez, who works in San Francisco. “You can’t have access to something if you don’t know it exists.”

Frustrated sad black guy is watching at laptop screen

A Law Designed to Protect Health Consumers Has Ended Up Hurting Them

Network directories — lists of providers contracted with health plans — form the heart of decision-making for health care consumers. They can help people decide which health plan to choose if they want to stay with a trusted doctor.

But health care providers say insurers have shifted the burden of updating directories onto them — a patchwork system that is still riddled with errors and leaves consumers paying the price.

Bill Would Reverse ‘Discriminatory’ Policy That Mostly Impacts Women of Color

California is close to revising a rule that excludes family caregivers from unemployment.

If signed into law, the bill is expected to extend unemployment eligibility to more than 119,000 family caregivers, who are primarily low-income women of color, according to a home care workers union. Supporters say that’s only fair, given that people employed as in-home caregivers who are not family members do receive unemployment benefits.

Tech Project Aims to Address Disparities in Who Can Access Health Records

Apple users are the only ones who can access their health records on their phones. CommonHealth, a new app for Android users, wants to change that and tackle health disparities in the process.

“Android users tend to earn lower incomes, so medical centers using the Apple app are cutting out (a large fraction of patients),” said Ida Sim, a professor of medicine at UC San Francisco, where she leads the team piloting the app.

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