Senator Peters Urges Health and Human Services Department to Fully Implement Middle Eastern and North African Community Inclusion Act

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) – along with U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Alex Padilla (D-CA), and U.S. Representatives Debbie Dingell (D-MI-06) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-12) – recently urged U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra to fully implement their Health Equity and Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Community Inclusion Act to better identify and prevent health disparities in MENA communities. This legislation – which Peters cosponsors – would help ensure the federal government is accurately documenting the experiences and needs of members of MENA communities by updating the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) list of “racial and ethnic minority groups” to include people of MENA ancestry.

The lawmakers also commended the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) newly revised data standards, which added MENA as a new minimum category required in all federal data collections. The standards also require federal agencies to collect more data on racial and ethnic subgroups, allowing for further disaggregation of data to address unique health care needs more intentionally and equitably. Despite this important step, MENA populations continue to face significant barriers to accessing care. Organizations that represent MENA communities have often been ineligible for federal programming targeted towards historically marginalized groups, largely due to the lack of data. To help address these ongoing disparities, the lawmakers urged HHS to add MENA to the list of “racial and ethnic minority groups” to grant MENA communities access to this programming.

“One of the central revisions of the new OMB data standards includes adding MENA as a new minimum category, which will allow millions of people to categorize themselves in ways that better reflect their identities. Additionally, the requirement for agencies to collect more granular data on racial and ethnic subgroups will allow for further disaggregation of data to provide more accurate health situation analysis, better understanding of each population’s unique needs, improved equity monitoring, and more efficient resource targeting,” Peters and the lawmakers wrote.

“We are confident that the recent OMB directive will provide a greater body of data to identify unique health trends or potential disparities in the MENA community and other minority communities,” they continued. “Therefore, we urge HHS to ensure that targeted federal programs critical to improving health outcomes and general quality of life are fully available to MENA populations.”

Peters has long advocated for the creation of a distinct classification for MENA communities in federal data collection standards. In March, Peters applauded OMB’s decision to revise its data collecting standards to include a separate response category for people of MENA descent. This announcement came after Peters urged OMB in 2022 to revise race and ethnicity standards and include a separate category for people of MENA descent. Following Peters’ efforts, the Administration announced it would begin a formal review to revise the federal data standards.

Text of the letter can be found here and below.

Dear Secretary Becerra,

In light of the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) newly revised “Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity,” we ask that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) properly categorize “Middle Eastern or North African” (MENA) as a “racial and ethnic minority group,” in accordance with our “Health Equity and Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Community Inclusion Act” (S. 2899, H.R. 2730).

One of the central revisions of the new OMB data standards includes adding MENA as a new minimum category, which will allow millions of people to categorize themselves in ways that better reflect their identities. Additionally, the requirement for agencies to collect more granular data on racial and ethnic subgroups will allow for further disaggregation of data to provide more accurate health situation analysis, better understanding of each population’s unique needs, improved equity monitoring, and more efficient resource targeting.

As HHS revises its Agency Action Plan to comply with OMB’s updated standards, we urge you to add MENA to the list of “racial and ethnic minority groups” in order to address existing barriers to access. Organizations that represent MENA communities have often been ineligible for federal programming targeted towards historically marginalized groups, largely due to the lack of data. For example, the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) Grant Program, which serves to address health disparities along racial or ethnic lines, relies on HHS’ racial and ethnic health data to award grants – data that has omitted full and proper representation for MENA communities that have long been miscategorized as “white.”

We are confident that the recent OMB directive will provide a greater body of data to identify unique health trends or potential disparities in the MENA community and other minority communities. Therefore, we urge HHS to ensure that targeted federal programs critical to improving health outcomes and general quality of life are fully available to MENA populations.

We appreciate your commitment to this issue, and we look forward to working with you to ensure these standards continue to evolve to reflect the needs of all Americans.

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