A vast literature acknowledges that minority groups, particularly African-Americans, receive less, and lower-quality treatment than Caucasians in U.S. health facilities. It remains an open question as to how much of this disparity is a result of poverty, and how much, a result of more overt discrimination. Former empirical studies are far from conclusive given the endogeneity of hospital quality, as minorities are overrepresented in areas served by poor health facilities. To remedy this endogeneity issue, we observe visitors to the state of Florida, as well as travelers within Florida. When an individual experiences a health shock far from home, her hospital assignment becomes random. By contrasting treatment intensity, and patient outcomes of minority visitors with the total population, we find that residence plays a substantial role in the provision of healthcare. Our results indicate that though African-Americans as minority group receive less treatment and experience higher mortality rates, these disparities disappear for African-American visitors.

健保自開辦以來提供產婦十次免費產前檢查，期望透過免費產檢，確保產婦不因經濟因素而無法使用產檢服務。然而，受限於產婦個人年齡、職業及居住地區等影響，產檢利用仍可能存在實質的「健康不均等」。本文透過差異中差異模型（difference-in-differences estimator，DID）檢視城市和鄉村、就業與否、以及不同年齡層間產婦的健康不均等的現象是否隨健保實施而縮小。估計結果顯示健保實行並無顯著改善都市和鄉村、工作與否，或24歲以下產婦的健康不均等，不論是以平均產檢次數、刪除極端值平均次數，或十次以上產檢比例均呈現一致性的結果。另外，由於SARS疫情，2004年分娩孕婦產檢次數皆下降，但下降幅度卻是以居住鄉村、無工作者、和20~24歲年輕孕婦最大，顯示這些社群最容易受外在衝擊的影響。

Despite the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) in 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified persistent disparities in health care resources as the primary causes of mortality among minority populations. An underexplored resource for affected African American populations is the church, which is not a recognized stakeholder in the implementation of current health care policy. The purpose of this phenomenological case study was to gather perspectives from African American parishioners who lacked sufficient health care insurance on the roles the church could play. Qualitative data management software was used to organize the data (transcripts of interviews) for coding. The purposeful sample of 12 church attendees came from urban, suburban, and rural African American churches. The Andersen behavioral model and Hochbaum's health belief model were used as the conceptual framework for thematic analysis of health care disparities. Kingdon's multiple-stream framework provided theoretical grounds for policy development and revision. Key findings revealed several interrelated health care disparity themes: the significance of insurance coverages, premium costs, financial barriers, family and personal issues, empowerment strategies, religious beliefs, and roles the church could play in promoting quality community health. The study has implications for positive social change: The results include guidance for the development of a bipartisan health care policy that includes the church as a stakeholder. A- partnership between the church and the legislators of health care reform could be a catalyst for improved metrics, trust, accountability, transparency, and opportunities to create tailored health care interventions and thus help alleviate societal health crises.