Editor's note: Dr. Debra Houry is vice chair in emergency
medicine at Emory University Hospital and immediate past
president for the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. Dr.
Sheryl Heron is an associate professor in emergency medicine at
Emory and founding chair for the Academy of Diversity and
Inclusion in Emergency Medicine. (CNN) -- When the Affordable
Care Act, signed into law in 2010, is fully implemented, many of
the disparities that have plagued the nation's health care
system will significantly lessen. Even so, ensuring that all
Americans have adequate access to health care remains a major
issue in the election campaign, and may prove to be far from a
settled matter. This is because both President Obama and Mitt
Romney agree that insurance is unaffordable for many families
and small businesses, but they differ on solutions. If Mitt
Romney is elected, he has said he would repeal the act. This
would likely mean that adequate health care would remain
unavailable to many, particularly minorities. Near