Today, we posted a new factsheet outlining the many ways in which the Affordable Care Act will reduce health disparities across the U.S. All across the country, low-income Americans, racial and ethnic minorities, LGBT, and other underserved populations have not had adequate access to health care.
This means, these underserved populations are not able to take advantage of preventive services available to help them stay healthy and fight chronic disease

Over the past two months, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and other HHS officials have partnered with a variety of stakeholders to support the growing Partnership for Patients initiative. With the desire to work closely with hospitals across the country, the Secretary has embarked on a national tour to applaud hospitals and medical centers that are being proactive about making their facilities safer and more effective at treating patients with fewer complications.

In the past, our health care system functioned more like a sick care system. Even though seven of ten deaths in America and three quarters of our nation’s health expenditures are due to chronic diseases, we were investing only 4 cents of every health care dollar in prevention – the kind of care to keep people from getting diseases in the first place.

That is changing under the Obama Administration, and this June, we are marking our nation’s first-ever Prevention and Wellness Month. Over the next month, you can look forward to announcements, activities, and tips that will help you and your family get healthy and stay healthy.