The lack of equity in the U.S. healthcare system is nothing short of a public health crisis. Between 1999 and 2020, Black individuals experienced approximately 1.6 million excess deaths and 80 million excess years of life lost compared to White individuals.1 The magnitude of this inequity was laid bare during the recent pandemic; individuals from minoritized groups accounted for 36% of COVID-19 deaths and 70% of non–COVID-19 excess deaths.2 These racial disparities in health outcomes are not rooted in biologic differences. Instead, they result from social determinants of health, such as lack of insurance coverage, and structural racism as manifested by unequal health care.
In this issue, Guglielminotti et al.3 aim to examine how a change to federal law impacts a racial and socioeconomic disparity that characterizes our care of pregnant women—namely, that Black and Hispanic women, and women without private insurance, are less likely to...
