On July 14, 2020, Professor Gwen Majette spoke with the staff of the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging.  In particular she spoke with the Staff Directors for Chairman Susan Collins and Ranking Member Bob Casey and some of their staff about the issue of health disparities in seniors.   The Staff Director noted that her work on health disparities had come across the Committee’s radar and they wanted to discuss it.  

The Special Committee on Aging is the focal point for discussion and debate on matters relating to older Americans.  Some of the issues that the committee has worked on include oversight of the Medicare program and addressing the unacceptable conditions in nursing homes.  Consistent with her scholarship, Professor Majette discussed with the committee the legal structures that create health disparities for people of color; the unique challenges that different groups of color encounter to access health care (African American, Asian Pacific Islander, Hispanic, and Native American); the concepts of equity, equality, and discrimination; and the PPACA Framework to Eliminate Health Disparities and its effectiveness.