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.

Over the past several years, suicide rates among our veterans have increased significantly, to nearly 18 each day.  Many of these cases are the result of the inability of our nation’s veterans to access the care they need, when they need it.

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.

America boasts eighteen of the world's top twenty hospitals. Heads of state from around the globe regularly seek out our doctors for treatment. This is where Dr. Robert Jarvik famously invented the Jarvik-7 artificial heart - generally considered the height of medical technology.

Two years ago, we took the steps to ensure that Americans are now being protected from unfair insurance practices, are benefiting from free preventive care, and are seeing prescription drug savings and stronger Medicare benefits. Though we must continue work to reform our health care system to provide higher quality care at a better price, for all Americans, we certainly cannot go backwards.

In the wake of health care reform, one of the key health equity issues that needs to be fully addressed is the collection and reporting of data on demographic variables for electronic health records (EHR), particularly for racial and ethnic minority groups. This is a critical issue because without comprehensive data, we are unable to accurately identify and track the disparities in health status and care among vulnerable populations.

HealthCorps® (www.healthcorps.org), founded by heart surgeon and Emmy Award-winning talk show host Dr. Mehmet Oz, is fighting the crises of child obesity and dearth of mental resilience, especially in Afro-American and Hispanic populations across the country. In addition, HealthCorps serves as a research vehicle for creating optimal health messaging.