The Hurdles Facing Black Families Navigating Serious Illness

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Serious illnesses like cancer and kidney failure are painful for patients and hard on their caregivers. Services like hospice and palliative care exist to support families and ensure their loved ones live easier lives and die more comfortable deaths. But data show Black individuals are less likely to have their pain treated and less likely to use hospice and palliative care.

In this Tradeoffs podcast episode — the latest in a series made possible by the Better Care Playbook — a researcher details ways to make this care more equitable and a caregiver shares her family’s journey navigating a serious illness.


About the Tradeoffs Podcast Series Supported by the Playbook

The Playbook is supporting Tradeoffs, a national health policy podcast, as it develops a series of episodes on improving care for people with complex health and social needs. Tradeoffs is a weekly podcast that explores the intersection of health care, policy, and people, including issues relevant to complex care. The podcast series is made possible by Arnold Ventures, The Commonwealth Fund, The John A. Hartford Foundation, the Milbank Memorial Fund, the Peterson Center on Healthcare, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and The SCAN Foundation.