Black women and Latinas experience great barriers to good health and quality health care. They are often more likely than white, non-Hispanic men and white, non-Hispanic women to lack health insurance, live in poverty, not have enough food to eat, and experience housing insecurity. Deep inequities in our economic and health systems have led to Black women and Latinas having overall poorer health and access to fewer resources.
Nationally, 22.2% of Latinas and 12.0% of Black women aged 19 to 64 lacked health insurance coverage between 2017 and 2021. In comparison, 10.2% of white, non-Hispanic men and 7.6% of white, non-Hispanic women lacked health insurance coverage. Some states fare far worse, such as Georgia where 41.0% of Latinas aged 19 to 64 did not have health insurance. Additionally, many Black women and Latinas lived in poverty in 2021. While nationally, 18.8% of Black women lived in poverty compared to 7.1% of white, non-Hispanic men, some states face greater disparities. For example, 33.1% of Black women ages 18 and over in North Dakota live in poverty compared to 8.7% of white, non-Hispanic men. Overall, Black women and Latinas in many states report overall worse health than white non-Hispanic women and men in the same state.