Social programs like Medicaid are supposed to help people, but often they reproduce racial inequities — and sometimes actually create them. That’s because even well-intentioned policymakers can’t always see the disproportionate impact their decisions have on people of color.

But what if there were a tool to help legislators and government officials identify when and how they should be thinking about racism? Well, Jamila Michener has developed one. And on the latest episode of The Dose podcast, she explains how it can be applied to Medicaid’s transportation benefit specifically and to health policy more broadly.

Michener, an associate professor in Cornell University’s Department of Government, speaks about how her research on, and personal experiences with, Medicaid has highlighted the importance of hearing from people impacted by policy choices.

“You can't really address the ways that racism manifests… unless you have people who experience it directly at the table, not only having voice, but also having some power,” she says.