Legal and Regulatory

In an effort to address health policy and systemic change, the Legal and Regulatory Committee has articulated a vision of health equality, and identified partners in the health advocacy and legal communities who share our goals. We have collaborated with these groups to change policies, resulting in the passage of two statewide bills: one that promotes language access, and one that provides improved hospital specialty and in-patient access for the uninsured.

For a number of REACH members, understanding the institutional mechanisms that promote and maintain racial and ethnic disparities in health has been, as stated by Reverend Robert Foley, “an illumination,” providing information and a perspective that resonated with their personal concerns and validated their own experiences.

The Legal and Regulatory Committee brought 500 REACH members to Albany to meet with our legislators to share our Statewide Advocacy Agenda. The group also gathered 300 community members on the steps of Bronx Borough Hall to share the findings of its monograph, Separate and Unequal: Medical Apartheid in NYC. The work of the committee has been highlighted in Health Affairs and the Journal of Health Care Law and Policy.

Language Access

Access for the Uninsured