During the past 10 years,African Americans experienced the largest decline in employer-sponsored healthinsurance coverage compared with their white and Latino counterparts. What’smore, if the Affordable Cart Act (ACA) is revoked, black folks and otherminorities will find it even more difficult to find health insurance, reports The Huffington Post.   

According to the report, “A Decade ofDeclines in Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Coverage,” between 2000 and2010, black employees between ages 18 and 64 saw their health insurancecoverage rates drop by almost 9 percent. (White and Latino employees facedsmaller declines.) Since children often receive health insurance through theirparents’ plans, black children were also affected. (African-American kids experienceda 14.1 percent decline in health insurance compared with 9.6 and 8.7 for whiteand Latino children, respectively.)  

This problem is one of many that the ACA—scheduledto start in 2014—would address (if the law isn’t ruled unconstitutional).   

For example, in 2010, the ACA made itpossible for individuals up to age 26 to remain on their parents’ insurancepolicy. In addition, research showed that despite large job losses for youngadult workers, their rate of health insurance coverage increased. (They werethe only age group who saw any increase.)   

What’s more, although the United States as awhole has not instituted all health care reforms associated with the ACA, thereis evidence that the act would decrease the number of uninsured people. Forexample, look at Massachusetts. That state’s health care reform served as atemplate for the ACA, and only 1.9 percent of the state’s residents wereuninsured—compared with 15.4 percent of the population nationally.  

What concerns advocates and activists is thatwithout total national reform, the decline in health insurance will continue,and blacks will share a disproportionate burden of that loss.   

Did you know health care reform would extendhealth insurance to more than 1 million ethnic minorities? Click here to readmore.