In the final days of 2021, the New York Department of Health and New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced they are using a race-based approach in deciding who is eligible to receive potentially life-saving health care treatments.
According to Gov. Kathy Hochul, “In times of limited supplies of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and oral antivirals (OAVs), providers should prioritize patients eligible for treatment based on their level of risk for progressing to severe COVID-19.”
Most Americans would agree that prioritizing high-risk patients, namely the elderly and those with co-morbidities and/or underlying conditions, during a time when COVID-19 treatments are in short supply is a reasonable policy.
However, New York health officials are not solely prioritizing patients in terms of health risk when it comes to receiving potentially life-saving therapeutics, they are also prioritizing patients based on their race and ethnicity.
Per the New York Department of Health’s Prioritization of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Monoclonal Antibodies and Oral Antivirals for the Treatment of COVID-19 During Times of Resource Limitations, “Non-white race or Hispanic/Latino ethnicity should be considered a risk factor, as longstanding systemic health and social inequities have contributed to an increased risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19.”
New York City’s Health Advisory # 39 also instructs health care workers to implement limited treatments using a race-based matrix, “Consider race and ethnicity when assessing an individual’s risk. Impacts of longstanding systemic health and social inequities put Black, Indigenous, and People of Color at increased risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes and death.”
So, New York City and State are now using race as a factor when deciding who does and does not receive health care treatments.
Not only is this immoral, it is blatantly illegal.
It is a gross violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees “equal protection under the law.”
And, it directly violates the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which “declares it to be the policy of the United States that discrimination on the ground of race, color, or national origin shall not occur in connection with programs and activities receiving Federal financial assistance.” Of course, both the New York City and New York State health departments receive boatloads of federal funds.
Yet, New York’s race-based health care rationing system seems to be in line with the Biden administration’s goal of achieving “health equity.”
Consider this recent statement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on its new pet project: health equity, “The COVID-19 pandemic has brought social and racial injustice and inequity to the forefront of public health. It has highlighted that health equity is still not a reality as COVID-19 has unequally affected many racial and ethnic minority groups, putting them more at risk of getting sick and dying from COVID-19.”
Naturally, the CDC offers zero evidence to support its highly divisive argument that racism is the reason that “racial and ethnic minority groups” are experiencing worse outcomes from COVID-19.
Instead of taking into account that “racial and ethnic minority groups” are less likely to be vaccinated from COVID-19 or that these same groups tend to have higher obesity rates than their white counterparts, the CDC merely says racial injustice and inequity are to blame.
In the United States, race should not be a factor whatsoever when public health officials are deciding who gets access to life-saving drugs that are in short supply.
In fact, by declaring that non-whites should receive preferential treatment in determining who does and does not receive access to health care treatments, the CDC and New York City and State health departments are engaging in what many on the left justify as current discrimination to rectify past discrimination.
Make no mistake, racial discrimination of any kind in the past was wrong. In the current, it is still wrong. And in the future, it will remain wrong.
Chris Talgo (ctalgo@heartland.org) is senior editor at The Heartland Institute.