Stop Forcing Taxpayers to Pay for DEI Politics

Editor’s note: This comment is in response to “Structural and Scientific Racism, Science, and Health — Evidence versus Ideology,” published by The New England Journal of Medicine in September 2025.

Krieger and Bassett’s Perspective, Structural and Scientific Racism, Science, and Health — Evidence versus Ideology, unintentionally makes a compelling case for why DEI research shouldn’t be funded by taxpayers. The article rehashes political claims that solely see the world through the lens of race.

For starters, the article is divisive; opposition to Medicaid expansion is deemed to be “rooted in racially discriminatory beliefs.” How did a legitimate debate over government-run healthcare – centered on cost, market impact, and efficiency – get miscast as racism?

Likewise, the authors go back over 400 years to criticize colonial America. While slavery was a grave evil, dwelling only on past wrongs and ignoring decades of progress hinders healing and keeps us stuck in history. It also does nothing to improve healthcare.

Yet, the authors insist that denying government funding for DEI projects amounts to “racial discrimination,” reflecting a sense of entitlement echoing Ibram Kendi’s controversial antiracism perspective. But private efforts aren’t banned, and public funding isn’t owed. Framing the opposition, however, as racist is simply unproductive, inappropriate, and un-American.