Black communities in the U.S. experienced 1.6M excess deaths over past two decades, studies find
The Washington Post (5/16, Johnson ) reports, “America’s Black communities experienced an excess 1.6 million deaths compared with the White population during the past two decades, a staggering loss that comes at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars, according to two new studies that build on a generation of research into health disparities and inequity.” In the one study, “researchers conclude that the gap in health outcomes translated into 80 million years of potential life lost.” In the other study, researchers “determined the price society pays for failing to achieve health equity and allowing Black people to die prematurely: $238 billion in 2018 alone.” The findings of both studies were published in JAMA.

Bloomberg (5/16, Muller , Subscription Publication) reports, “Age-adjusted death rates ranged from 21% to 40% higher among Black males and from 13% to 31% higher among Black females compared with their White counterparts.”