Thread by @axios

WATCH: Axios' @caitlinnowens hosts a conversation on how the pandemic has worsened social and racial inequities in the American health care system, featuring @RepMullin and @RepRaulRuizMD. twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

@caitlinnowens @RepMullin @RepRaulRuizMD Oklahoma’s @RepMullin, who is Cherokee, on the health disparities of COVID-19: Native Americans across the country have been disproportionately hit with COVID-19. As a race, we’re more likely to receive it than any other race and it has touched all of our families.

@caitlinnowens @RepMullin @RepRaulRuizMD .@RepMullin on the need for health data sharing between the federal government and the Indian Health Service: The IHS should have the same access to the data as states. Without it, we’re running blind and not able to learn and improve how we treat COVID-19.

@caitlinnowens @RepMullin @RepRaulRuizMD .@RepMullin on what Congress can do to fix some of these health disparities:
• Use technology and expand telemedicine care, especially for rural communities
• Expand education
• Get IHS fully funded

@caitlinnowens @RepMullin @RepRaulRuizMD .@RepRaulRuizMD: The pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on underserved, under resourced communities—particularly in the farm worker community. Latino farm workers are high-risk, have essential jobs and live in multigenerational households that make them more susceptible.

@caitlinnowens @RepMullin @RepRaulRuizMD .@RepRaulRuizMD on the need for incentivized protections for farm workers: They’re desperately in need of financial assistance. Asking them to take time off to quarantine without paid leave and away from family they are supporting is very difficult.

@caitlinnowens @RepMullin @RepRaulRuizMD .@RepRaulRuizMD on what Congress can do to fix some of these health disparities:
• Equity in funding
• Utilize systems of health care delivery that actually work in harder-to-reach locations
• Lower health care costs
• Delivery information in different languages