In the United States, the burdens of disease and poor health and the benefits of well-being and good health are inequitably distributed, with negative consequences for the nation's overall well-being, prosperity, and economic competitiveness, a report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine finds. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the report, Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity (highlights, 4 pages, PDF), argues that social inequities, more than health care, account for health disparities and warns that unless those gaps are closed, the nation will pay the price in the form of lost lives, wasted human potential, and squandered resources. As an example, racial health disparities alone are projected to cost health insurers some $337 billion between 2009 and 2018. Recommendations (2 pages, PDF) for funders include supporting research that examines the effects of structural racism and implicit and explicit bias on health and healthcare delivery as well as strategies to mitigate those effects, and funding community interventions that address the social determinants of health and well-being or that bolster education, compliance, and enforcement related to civil rights laws.