Social work's opportunity and obligation to achieve population health equity.

US healthcare remains a system in crisis, wherein spending outpaces other Western economies but health inequities match those of an emerging market economy. As a country founded in tenets of white supremacy, structural racism persists as evidenced by longstanding race-based disparities. Although the population health approach offers a potential framework for preventative and community-based health, without overt race-conscious design, race-based disparities will be replicated.