Republican Governor Rick Scott announced his support of Medicaid expansion this Wednesday. This was surprising due to his avid disagreement with the Affordable Care Act prior to last year’s Supreme Court ruling that upholds the law.

While the debates continue as to whether or not the Affordable Care Act (ACA) should be implemented, a key component of health reform that is often overlooked includes health equity and the elimination of disparities in health status and healthcare among vulnerable populations.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court handed down a decision that is bound to go down in the history books as monumental. While the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been the subject of endless debate, commentary, political jockeying and legal analysis, yesterday we learned a simple lesson: real people can win.

The Department of Health and Human Services recently released a national roadmap to address and reduce disparities in health status and health care among racial and ethnic minorities. It also released a national strategy for engaging communities across the country to harness the collective power of collaboration in order to tackle these serious issues.

Every day we are bombarded with facts and figures that point to the poor health of people living in communities of color. We are more obese, our children are less likely to outlive their parents—the first time in history that this has happened. People of color are more likely to suffer from diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease and stroke. Our zipcodes are more likely to predict our health outcomes, and how soon we will die. When I see this information I get mad. And I wonder where is the outrage that will bring about change.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once observed, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” This statement rings especially true for vulnerable populations in the United States—who, as a group, have long suffered from severe and pervasive disparities in health status and outcomes and faced barriers to quality health care.

Maya Rockeymore interviews Brian Smedley and discusses healthcare reform and issues of healthcare disparities among racial and ethnic minority populations. Reducing health disparities is essential to create health equity and strengthen the nation’s economic health overall.