About AAPI Communities 

• Over 1.1 million Asian Americans (6%) and over 63,000 Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (11%) have no health insurance coverage. (AAPI Data)

• Among Asian Americans, the highest proportion of those without any health insurance coverage include Mongolian (21%), Burmese (11%), and Thai (11%). (AAPI Data)

• Asian American adults have the lowest reports of fair or poor health status, while Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders have shown an increase in their report of fair or poor health status over the past five years. Between 2022-2024, an estimated 11% of Asian American adults and 16% of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander adults reported fair or poor health status. (AAPI Data)

• Among NHPIs, the highest proportion of those without any health insurance coverage includes Marshallese (21%), Tongan (17%), and Samoan (10%). (AAPI Data)

• Eleven percent of Asian American adults and 16% of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander adults reported fair or poor health. Among Asian Americans, Korean adults (13%) reported the highest rates of poor health. (AAPI Data)

• Southeast Asian refugees (Hmong, Cambodian, Lao, Vietnamese) have elevated rates of PTSD, depression, and chronic disease linked to war trauma and resettlement stress. (NIH)

• Barriers related to language access continue to shape inequities in care across Asian American communities. Nearly 28% of Asian Americans have limited English proficiency (LEP), representing one of the highest rates of any racial group. This burden is not evenly distributed, with the highest rates seen among Bhutanese (63.7%), Burmese (59.8%), Vietnamese (47.7%), and Bangladeshi (44.2%) communities. (AAPI Data)

• 1 in 5 US South Asians will report experiencing a mood or anxiety disorder in their lifetime. (SAPHA)

• 1 in 4 Filipinas/xs/os make up a significant portion of frontline healthcare professionals, yet remain largely invisible in medical research. (LEAD Filipino)

• Queer and Trans Pacific Islanders (QTPI) are twice as likely to have Medicaid and 10% less likely to have a personal doctor than cisgender, heterosexual NHPIs. (UTOPIA-WA)

• 84% of AAPI women agree that people should be able to make their abortion decisions without government interference. (NAPAWF)

• 23.1% of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in Hawai’i live in rural areas and are more likely to rate their health as fair or poor than their non-rural counterparts. (Papa Ola Lо̄kahi)

Polling and Survey Data

• Nearly all AAPI adults are at least somewhat concerned about increases to the cost of healthcare. (AAPI Data)

• Health care is personally important to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders: 41% of AAPI adults cited health care as the most important problem facing them and their family. (AAPI Data)

• AAPIs want more government spending on health care: 70% of AAPI adults believe the government is spending too little on improving the healthcare system. (AAPI Data)

Recent Policy Changes Impacting AANHPI Health

• Conducted mass layoffs at key health agencies and offices such as the CDC, FDA, NIH, and CMS.
• Rescinded previous executive orders designed to advance racial equity. (Economic Policy Institute)
• The termination of DEI programs and termination of NIH grants designed to address health inequities.
• The proposed public charge changes will likely lead to decreased participation in public programs such as Medicaid and CHIP, among a broad group of immigrant families. (KFF)

• The initial removal of public-health and datasets related to LGBTQIA+ health, reproductive health, health disparities and others. (KFF)
• Issued Executive Order 14168 declaring that the federal government would recognize sex as an immutable binary (male or female) based on biology.
• Restrictions on gender affirming care. (19th News)
• Rollbacks on protections for transgender people
• There are over 100 federal and state health related anti-LGBTQ bills and policies advancing across the country. (ACLU)

• Misinformation from key officials continues such as baseless claims about the safety and impacts of vaccinations, unproven health treatments, and medical practices. (TIME)
• Restrictions on reproductive care. (Guttmacher)
• Disaster aid denials and delays to states impacting available supports such as counseling.

Proposed Cuts to Federal Funding 

Amidst the healthcare affordability crisis, the president’s budget for FY2027 looks to cut and eliminate critical programs and services:

• $15.8 billion in cuts to health and human services overall.
• Cuts of $5 billion to the National Institute on Health.
• Elimination of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.
• Elimination of the Hospital Preparedness Program by $240 million.
• Cuts of $775 million to the Community Services Block Grant which will directly affect how states, territories, and tribes serve communities.
• Elimination of the Hospital Preparedness Program.
• Restructuring and elimination of programs that housed within the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, CDC, and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health.
• Elimination of all $755.6 million of CDC’s core HIV prevention funding.