Championing Health Equity and Inclusive Care
By Maeve McGuire (C’25)
As part of the Conversations in Global Health: Global to Local class, Katie Keith (L’12) delivered an insightful reflection on her career. She traced her journey from an accelerated high school education program to her role as a science education volunteer in Ghana with the Peace Corps, and ultimately to her involvement with the Affordable Care Act.
One of the topics discussed was about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in health research. This discussion was in part a response to the U.S. government sunsetting DEI initiatives. Keith explained that without disaggregation in research, problems within the health care system will not be identified. For example, Keith explained, mortality rates have been decreasing over the years, but black women’s rate is decreasing much more slowly. Keith illustrated that to ensure the health care system in the United States is working properly for everyone, data must be disaggregated, and these DEI initiatives should not be removed from research.
Another topic was about education on health care policies. Once the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was implemented, historically marginalized groups, such as trans and queer people, assumed due to systemic obstacles in care, they would not be covered by ACA. However, ACA prohibited discrimination in health care based on gender identity through Section 1557 and ensured access to insurance and care, in addition to stopping the denials of coverage for transition-related services. Keith, through the nonprofit Out2Enroll, was able to communicate with these groups about their insurance coverage.
Lastly, Keith identified U.S. Supreme Court cases and other policy changes that will affect how minorities will interact with health care. Keith highlighted the United States v. Skrmetti case that challenges Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors. This case is on the forefront of trans care policy and, depending on the outcome, has the potential to attack the human rights of trans individuals.
Keith was a fantastic lecturer and a great resource to the future health care workers in the class. Not only did she provide outlets for future health care workers to advocate for their patients outside of the clinic, she instilled a commitment to bettering the health care system to a diverse audience of passionate students.
Maeve McGuire (C’25) is an undergraduate at Georgetown University majoring biology. She is a student in the Conversations in Health: Global to Local class.