HR6767-119

What This Bill Does

The Health Equity and MENA Community Inclusion Act aligns federal minority-health law with the 2024 Office of Management and Budget recognition of Middle Eastern and North African populations in Statistical Policy Directive 15. It defines MENA to include individuals or populations tied to nationalities or ethnic groups from the Middle Eastern and North African region, such as Lebanese, Iranians, Egyptians, Moroccans, Yemenis, Chaldeans, Imazighen, Kurds, Palestinians, and Yazidis. It amends the Public Health Service Act definition of racial and ethnic minority groups to include Middle Easterners and North Africans alongside Blacks or African Americans and Hispanics. It states that federal programs using that definition should apply the change without harming other minority groups. Within 2 years, HHS must identify and update regulations, guidance, orders, and documents for health care or public health programs, activities, or surveys that use minority-group terminology without defining it. HHS must also conduct or support a comprehensive study of MENA health patterns and outcomes, with enumeration and subpopulation data on behavioral, physiological, environmental, genetic, demographic, and social determinants of health.

Who Benefits and How

Middle Eastern and North African communities benefit because federal minority-health programs and surveys would recognize them explicitly instead of folding them into broader categories. Lebanese, Iranian, Egyptian, Moroccan, Yemeni, Chaldean, Imazighen, Kurdish, Palestinian, Yazidi, and other MENA subpopulations benefit from data collection that can reveal distinct health risks and access gaps. Office of Minority Health programs benefit from clearer statutory authority to include MENA populations in disparity work. Researchers and community health organizations benefit from a required study that can support more targeted public health interventions.

Who Bears the Burden and How

HHS civil rights, public health, and data staff must identify affected regulations, guidance, orders, documents, programs, activities, and surveys within 2 years and update them as needed. HHS study staff or contractors must enumerate MENA populations, disaggregate subpopulations, and measure risk factors, chronic conditions, demographics, English proficiency, income, insurance, education, housing, and other social determinants. Program administrators must apply the revised definition while avoiding negative impacts on other racial or ethnic minority groups. Federal taxpayers fund the study, administrative review, and implementation work.

Key Provisions

• Defines Middle Eastern and North African populations for the Act using regional nationalities and ethnic groups.
• Expands the Public Health Service Act minority-health definition to include Middle Easterners and North Africans.
• Requires HHS to identify and update health program regulations, guidance, orders, and documents using undefined minority-group terms.
• Requires a comprehensive MENA health study with enumeration and subpopulation-level data.
• Protects other racial and ethnic minority groups from negative effects when HHS implements the inclusion.