By Ed Towns
06/05/2026
After decades in public service, I can say this with certainty: healthcare access remains one of the greatest moral failures in America.
New York tells a story that too many American cities share. In some neighborhoods just miles apart, life expectancy can differ by more than a decade, with predominantly Black communities on the shorter end. And in a city as vast and diverse as New York, those numbers are not just statistics. They are our neighbors, our cousins, our church families.
But New York is not alone. Across major American cities, from Atlanta to Birmingham, from Chicago to Compton, African Americans continue to face disproportionately higher rates of chronic disease, lower life expectancy, higher maternal mortality rates, and reduced access to timely, quality care. These disparities have been discussed for generations. The question now is whether we are finally prepared to embrace the tools capable of helping close those gaps.
Take maternal health. African American women across the country face disproportionately high maternal mortality rates, often because warning signs go undetected and access to specialists is limited. Companies like Maven Clinic and health equity startups like Irth are using digital tools to connect expectant mothers with culturally competent providers, improve communication between patients and hospitals, and identify risks earlier in pregnancy. In communities where geography and poverty have long determined who gets good care, that kind of innovation can be the difference between life and death.
That is why I believe technology companies helping modernize healthcare systems deserve serious attention, including companies like Palantir.
Too often, the public conversation around artificial intelligence focuses only on fear. But for communities that have historically been underserved, innovation can also mean opportunity. The real question is not whether we use advanced technology in healthcare. It is whether we use it responsibly and equitably.
Data-driven systems are already helping hospitals save lives in real time. At Tampa General Hospital, clinicians are using Palantir-powered technology to monitor patients for warning signs before infections become life-threatening. As of late 2025, the hospital reported the system had helped save more than 700 lives. Think about what that means for cities like Baltimore and so many others, where emergency rooms are often overwhelmed and warning signs go missed, not because the illness is untreatable, but because the system is stretched too thin.
One of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, Novartis, is using Palantir software to accelerate drug discovery. Researchers can now determine safe and effective medication dosages in hours instead of days or weeks. For African Americans who have historically faced barriers to participation in clinical trials and delays in access to cutting-edge treatments, faster discovery means faster access to cures that have too often arrived too late.
None of this means technology should operate without oversight. African Americans know this history better than most. Trust must be earned, not assumed. We need transparency, strong privacy protections, and clear accountability, always.
But rejecting innovation because it is imperfect would be a mistake our communities cannot afford.
For generations, we have demanded equal access to quality healthcare. We should welcome technologies that help doctors intervene earlier, help hospitals operate more efficiently, and help researchers reach patients who have always been last in line.
The future of healthcare is being built right now. African Americans deserve to be fully included in it.
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Edolphus “Ed” Towns, a Democrat from New York, served 30 years in the House of Representatives, chairing the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and nearly two decades on the Committee on Energy & Commerce, shaping healthcare, public health, and technology policy. When he retired in 2012, his seat passed to Hakeem Jeffries, now House Minority Leader.