Why More Black Women Are Traveling To South Korea For Preventive Healthcare
Many travelers say South Korea offers streamlined care that allows patients to complete extensive diagnostic testing, imaging, and specialist consultations.
A growing number of Black American women are traveling to South Korea for preventive medical care, saying faster access to specialists, comprehensive screenings, and more attentive treatment are helping uncover health conditions they believe were missed or delayed in the United States, The Guardian reports.
The trend is helping fuel South Korea’s expanding medical tourism industry, which attracted a record 2.01 million international patients in 2025, according to the country’s Ministry of Health and Welfare. The figure marks the first time annual foreign patient visits have surpassed 2 million since the government began tracking the data in 2009.
Many travelers say South Korea offers streamlined care that allows patients to complete extensive diagnostic testing, imaging, and specialist consultations in a matter of days rather than weeks or months.
Among them is Adzua Agyapon, a 36-year-old nonprofit professional from Washington, who traveled to Seoul in April 2026 for a preventive health evaluation after hearing about the country’s comprehensive screening programs. During the visit, doctors discovered a 10-centimeter uterine fibroid through an ultrasound before confirming the diagnosis with an MRI.
Agyapon told the outlet she had undergone annual medical exams in the United States, but the growth had never been identified—the evaluation cost just under $600.
“The experience was night and day,” Agyapon said.
Elizabeth Oputa, a 42-year-old brand strategist from Jersey City, New Jersey, has also traveled to South Korea for preventive screenings, alopecia treatment, and dermatological care. Oputa said appointments in the United States often felt rushed, while providers in South Korea spent more time discussing her concerns and explaining treatment options.
Their experiences reflect longstanding racial disparities documented throughout the U.S. healthcare system. Research has found that Black women are more likely to experience delayed diagnoses for conditions including uterine fibroids, endometriosis, and some cancers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also reports that Black women are about three times more likely than white women to die from pregnancy-related causes.
Health experts note that individual experiences vary and that the quality of care differs among hospitals and providers in every country. Medical tourism can also pose challenges for follow-up treatment once patients return home, and it remains financially out of reach for many due to airfare, lodging, and out-of-pocket medical costs.
Still, the women interviewed said the opportunity to receive timely, comprehensive care outweighs the inconvenience of traveling overseas, underscoring growing frustration with disparities they say continue to shape healthcare experiences in the United States.
Dr. Louis Charles Roudanez launched the first Black publication.
July 21, 1864, marks the birth of Black news media. The New Orleans Tribune goes to print and down in history as the first Black newspaper to be published. The city of New Orleans had recently abolished slavery when Dr. Louis Charles Roudanez launched the publication, which was referred to as the “organ of the oppressed,” reporting on the times and newly emancipated African Americans who were fighting for equality.
Black Mothers Get Underpaid Twice: Once At Work, Once At Tax Time
Black Women's Equal Pay Day Is July 21
By Taylor Austin, Campaign Director, Workplace Justice, MomsRising
Black Women’s Equal Pay Day is on July 21 this year. It is the day we use to highlight the racist and sexist wage gap faced by Black women. Black women are paid 65 cents for every dollar paid to non-Hispanic white men working full-time, year-round.
I lead on workplace justice campaigns, so I want to be precise about something. The 65-cent figure everyone will quote next week does not come from nowhere. It gets built, job by job, in American workplaces. Then the federal tax code picks it up and charges Black mothers a second time for it.
Where the number gets made …
Black women working full time, year-round were paid 65 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men in 2024, down from 66 cents in 2023 and 69 cents in 2022. The gap widened for a second consecutive year, the first time that has happened since the government began collecting the data in 1960. That gap is built three ways.
It is built by sorting. More than half of Black women work in occupations where they are overrepresented, and those occupations pay lower median wages. Black women are concentrated in childcare, home care, and housekeeping, and largely locked out of higher-paying fields. They are 6.1% of the workforce and 9.2% of the low-paid workforce. It is built inside the same job title. Black women working full time as cashiers and retail salespeople, their second most common occupation, are paid 55 cents for every dollar paid to a white, non-Hispanic man doing that work. In nursing and teaching, the best-paying of their 10 most common jobs, they are still paid about 20% less. And it is built by silence. Nearly 60% of private-sector workers report that discussing wages is prohibited or discouraged by their employer, even though the National Labor Relations Act makes forbidding those conversations illegal. A gap you are not allowed to discuss is a gap you cannot contest.
For Black mothers, it lands harder: about 52 cents for every dollar paid to a white father.
Then the tax code reads the paycheck…
Here is the part nobody mentions on July 21: The Child Tax Credit is worth up to $2,200 per child. Most of that only helps a family that owes enough federal income tax to absorb it. For families who don’t, the refundable portion is capped at $1,700 per child, and you reach that ceiling by climbing a ramp: you must earn at least $2,500 to get anything, and from there the credit grows by fifteen cents for every additional dollar you earn.
Read that again—the credit phases in with your wages. The less you are paid, the less of it you get. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy ran the arithmetic. A family with three children earning $30,000 receives $4,125 rather than the $6,600 available to higher-income families.
Last July’s reconciliation law raised the maximum credit to $2,200 per child and made it permanent, which produced a round of press releases about supporting families. The structure underneath went untouched. The earnings floor stayed. The phase-in stayed. The cap stayed. An estimated 19 million children will receive less than the full credit this year, or none at all, because their families earn too little. Half of all Black children are in that group. Not because their parents don’t work. Because their parents’ work is underpaid, and the credit was built to reward the paycheck rather than the child.
So the workplace hands a Black mother a discounted paycheck. The tax code reads that paycheck, decides she must not need much, and discounts her child’s credit to match. An earnings test, applied in a labor market that pays Black women 65 cents on the dollar, is not a neutral measure of effort. It is a discrimination test wearing a better suit.
Fix it at both ends.
This design was a choice, and other lawmakers keep making the opposite one. Eleven of the 15 states with their own child tax credits made theirs fully refundable. The American Family Act would do the same federally, ending the rule that denies a child the full credit because her mother earns too little. But full refundability only stops the compounding. It does not fix the wage that started it. That takes workplace policy, and the list is not mysterious. Pay range transparency, so a Black woman can see what a job pays before she is lowballed into it. Salary history bans, so one employer’s discrimination stops following her to the next job. Real enforcement of the right to discuss wages, which workers already have on paper and are told to forget in practice. Paid family and medical leave, so becoming a mother stops functioning as a permanent pay cut. Childcare funding, so a low-wage job does not cost more than it returns.
MomsRising brought mothers to Capitol Hill this spring for the first mom-centered congressional hearing on affordability. They testified about groceries, rent, and childcare. A typical family now needs roughly $145,000 a year to get by. Set that against a mother earning half of a white father’s dollar and then losing part of her child’s credit because of it, and the arithmetic stops being abstract. It becomes a decision about which bill goes unpaid this month.
Black women have never needed this country’s awareness. We get it every July, on a date that drifts a little each year and gets covered like weather.
What we need is a workplace that pays a Black mother what her work is worth, and a tax code that stops treating her underpayment as her own verdict on herself. She earned the full credit. Her child certainly did.
About the author
Screenshot
Taylor is the campaign director for MomsRising’s Workplace Justice Campaigns. Her professional background is rooted in reproductive healthcare and advocacy, protecting reproductive rights through grassroots organizing, public education, and legislative change within Pennsylvania.
With a deep commitment to the belief that social health directly impacts physical wellbeing, Taylor holds a Bachelor’s degree in Public Health (with a Biology minor) from Temple University, as well as a Master of Science in Health Administration (MHA) from Saint Joseph’s University. As a Black woman living in the United States, she is grateful to be able to leverage both her lived and professional experiences to advocate for and positively impact women and families.
A proud Philadelphia transplant, Taylor now resides in the Philadelphia suburbs with her husband, their two children, and an ever-growing collection of plant babies.
VIDEO: The Lasting Legacy Of George E. Johnson Sr. Will Not Be Forgotten
George E. Johnson was laid to rest, his contribution lives on.
On July 6, 2026, the business world lost a true pioneer with the passing of George E. Johnson Sr. at 99. As the co-founder of Johnson Products Company, he was not just a successful entrepreneur but a transformative figure who used economic power to uplift the African American community.
In the following video, Alfred A. Edmond, Jr., BLACK ENTERPRISE’s executive vice president and chief content officer, takes a moment to lay bare Johnson’s character and the direct impact and influence Johnson has had during his professional career:
Community Impact and Integrity
Beyond commercial success, Johnson’s factories and offices served as vital economic engines, helping to build the foundation of Chicago’s Black middle class.
His journey also navigated the complex evolution of corporate growth. When the company was sold to a white-owned conglomerate in 1993 amid a divorce, it sparked a national debate over the future of minority wealth-building. Throughout this public scrutiny, Johnson maintained absolute grace and transparency—a commitment to fair dealing detailed in his memoir, Afro Sheen: How I Revolutionized the Industry with the Golden Rule. He and his wife, Joan, eventually reunited and reacquired the company.
The Takeaway
George E. Johnson Sr. redefined corporate leadership by proving that true business success is measured by generational community impact rather than just profit margins. Today’s entrepreneurs stand firmly on the shoulders of his historic achievements.
Nearly 2 Million Americans Face Long-Term Unemployment Despite Lower Jobless Rate
Adults aged between 25 and 54 represented the largest share of long-term unemployed workers.
Nearly 2 million Americans remained unemployed for at least six months in June, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report released July 3, underscoring persistent challenges in the labor market despite a slight decline in the nation’s overall unemployment rate, Fast Company reports.
The BLS reported employers added 57,000 jobs in June while the unemployment rate edged down to 4.2% from 4.3% in May. However, the improvement largely reflected fewer Americans participating in the labor force rather than a significant increase in hiring. The labor force participation rate fell three-tenths of a percentage point to 61.5%, its lowest level since March 2021.
Approximately 1.9 million Americans had been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer in June, accounting for 27.3% of the nation’s unemployed workers. That share increased by about four percentage points compared with June 2025, signaling that many job seekers continue to face lengthy searches for new employment. The average duration of unemployment reached 25.5 weeks.
Adults aged between 25 and 54 represented the largest share of long-term unemployed workers, with people in their late 20s and 30s among the most affected groups.
The increase comes as several major employers, including Meta, Microsoft, Atlassian, Lucid, and Block, have announced workforce reductions in recent months, adding experienced candidates to an already competitive job market. While severance packages often include several months of pay and temporary healthcare benefits, many expire before workers are able to secure new positions.
Extended unemployment is also affecting workers’ mental health. An April 2026 survey of 5,000 unemployed adults conducted by Talker Research found that only 23% of respondents said they consistently felt motivated during their job search, while 31% reported they had stopped actively searching for work. The survey also found the average respondent had been unemployed for six months, with nearly one-third searching for even longer.
Former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell described the labor market in 2025 as a “low-firing, low-hiring environment,” where employers have slowed both hiring and layoffs, making it more difficult for unemployed workers to reenter the workforce quickly.
Mid-Career Workers Are Taking On More Work Without Bigger Paychecks
The trend comes as businesses continue restructuring their workforces.
The traditional mid-career path is shifting as companies streamline operations, eliminate management layers, and expect experienced employees to absorb additional responsibilities without corresponding promotions or pay increases, prompting career experts to urge workers to reassess and communicate the value they bring to their organizations, Fast Company reports.
The trend comes as businesses continue restructuring their workforces. U.S. entry-level job postings have dropped about 35% since early 2023, according to labor market analytics firm Revelio Labs. At the same time, a 2025 survey of 15,000 professionals by the executive search and consulting firm Korn Ferry found that 41% of respondents reported that their employers reduced management layers in the previous year.
While layoffs and hiring slowdowns often dominate headlines, career experts say the greatest burden is increasingly falling on experienced professionals who occupy the middle of an organization. As companies flatten their hierarchies, work once handled by junior employees, managers, or cross-functional teams is frequently reassigned to mid-career staff, expanding their responsibilities without changing their titles or compensation.
Experts recommend that employees begin by evaluating how their roles have changed over time. That includes identifying tasks inherited from entry-level positions, from former supervisors, other departments, or newly implemented artificial intelligence systems. From there, workers should distinguish between responsibilities that rely on their expertise and judgment and routine tasks that could be delegated, automated, or eliminated.
Career advisors recommend discussing how responsibilities have evolved, outlining the value those changes have created, and seeking adjustments to workload, authority, or recognition. That could include requests for greater decision-making responsibilities, updated job titles, compensation increases, or increased visibility with senior leadership.
As organizations continue operating with leaner teams, career experts say clearly defining and communicating one’s evolving contributions can help ensure that expanded responsibilities translate into long-term career growth instead of becoming an overlooked expectation.
More Workers Test Positive For Marijuana As Employers Ease Hiring Rules
The findings reflect a shifting workplace landscape as employers balance hiring needs with evolving attitudes toward marijuana use.
Marijuana continues to appear more frequently in workplace drug tests across the United States, so many employers are easing hiring policies as they compete for workers and adapt to changing state cannabis laws, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Quest Diagnostics reported that 4.4% of nearly eight million workforce urine drug tests conducted in 2025 were positive for marijuana, up from 3.9% in 2021. Hair testing, which detects drug use over a longer period, showed an even sharper increase, with 15% of tests returning positive results. Among employees subject to random hair testing, the positivity rate climbed to 21%, according to the company’s annual Drug Testing Index.
The findings reflect a shifting workplace landscape as employers balance hiring needs with evolving attitudes toward marijuana use. While cannabis remains illegal under federal law, many states have legalized its medical or recreational use, prompting some businesses to reconsider blanket testing policies for applicants.
Employment attorney Todd Logsdon, a partner at Fisher Phillips, told the outlet that labor shortages have influenced those decisions.
“I’ve had other employers tell me, ‘If I test for that, I’m not gonna have any applicants,'” Logsdon said. “They’re being very choosy about which role they test for.”
A 2024 Fisher Phillips survey of nearly 1,000 employers found that about half no longer require pre-employment marijuana testing for at least some positions. Among companies that continue screening applicants for cannabis, 44% said the practice has made recruiting more difficult, while nearly one-quarter said they were considering changing their policies.
Several major employers, including Amazon, Citigroup, Home Depot, and AutoNation, have eliminated marijuana screening for many non-safety-sensitive positions. However, industries such as transportation, aviation, construction, and other safety-sensitive sectors continue to require drug testing because of federal regulations and workplace safety standards.
Quest Diagnostics also reported increases in positive workforce tests for cocaine, amphetamines, and methamphetamine in 2025. At the same time, the positivity rate for fentanyl in urine drug tests declined by about half from 2024 levels, according to the company’s findings.
Millions Of Americans Are Going Into Debt Just To Buy Groceries
The findings come as grocery prices have climbed about 32% over the past five years.
Millions of Americans are turning to credit cards, buy-now-pay-later loans, and personal savings to pay for groceries as food prices continue to strain household budgets, The Street reports.
The nonprofit research organization’s Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey, which polled more than 10,000 working-age adults nationwide, found that many consumers are increasingly relying on debt to cover everyday food purchases.
The Urban Institute found that 63% of working-age adults used a credit card to buy groceries during the previous year. While most paid their balances in full, 19.6% carried a balance while making at least the minimum payment, and 8.7% said they did not consistently make the minimum payment. That share increased from 7.1% two years earlier, according to the report.
The survey also found that nearly 10% of adults used buy-now, pay-later loans to purchase groceries. Among those borrowers, 34.8% missed at least one payment. About 20% of respondents also reported using savings intended for emergencies or other long-term financial goals to pay for groceries.
Lower- and moderate-income households were hit hardest. Approximately 12% missed a minimum credit card payment tied to grocery purchases, about three times the rate of higher-income households. They also were roughly four times more likely to miss a buy now, pay later payment, according to Fox Business.
“For low- and moderate-income families, [groceries are] a really big portion of their budget, and so when food prices increase, they have much less breathing room to accommodate that,” Kassandra Martinchek, a public policy expert at the Urban Institute and co-author of the report, said in the study.
The findings also coincide with broader financial pressures. A May CBS News poll found that more than three-quarters of Americans said their incomes were not keeping pace with inflation.
The Urban Institute warned that while credit and savings can provide temporary relief for families struggling to meet basic needs, prolonged reliance on those resources “may lead to financial instability if they have a hard time keeping up with debt or do not recover financially after drawing down savings.”
Blair Underwood Shares His Definition Of Excellence
His instinct is to be a service to other people
BLACK ENTERPRISE has featured Blair Underwood many times over in his extraordinary film, television, and theatre career. As an actor, director, and producer, he’s made a career challenging what it means to be Black in America. In 2007, he portrayed Jesus Christ in an 89-hour, fully dramatized audio Bible book, The Bible Experience.
In 2010, Our World with Black Enterprise featured Underwood portraying United States President Elias Martinez in the NBC drama series The Event. And again in 2012, when he played the lead role of Stanley in the Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire with Nicole Ari Parker. In 2025, Blair Underwood shared his inspiration to an audience of Black men attending the XCEL Summit for Men and on why being excellent is the best weapon against racism. And as we continue our approach to the 10th anniversary of the XCEL Summit for Men, he wants every Black man to know we all can be great! Check out this short excerpt from his panel discussion, and experience why you can be great, too.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - DECEMBER 18: Dr. Michael Lomax, Ph.D., President & CEO, United Negro College Fund (UNCF) attends 38th Annual Atlanta UNCF Mayor's Masked Ball at Atlanta Marriott Marquis on December 18, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
Dr. Michael L. Lomax To Retire After 22 Years Of Transforming UNCF
Dr. Lomax has secured billions for HBCUs during his tenure.
The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) has announced that its legendary President and CEO, Dr. Michael L. Lomax, will conclude his historic tenure in June 2027.
The announcement, delivered by UNCF Board Chair Milton H. Jones, Jr., marks the culmination of a 22-year legacy that fundamentally shifted how America invests in historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and minority students.
The transition is the result of a deliberate, multi-year succession plan designed to maintain the organization’s massive strategic momentum, institutional wealth, and unwavering commitment to Black excellence.
“Few leaders have shaped an institution as profoundly as Dr. Lomax has shaped UNCF,” Jones said in a statement shared with BLACK ENTERPRISE.
“For more than two decades, he has elevated HBCUs on the national stage, expanded educational opportunity for hundreds of thousands of students, strengthened our member institutions, and positioned UNCF for enduring success. Thanks to Dr. Lomax’s vision and leadership, UNCF is stronger than ever.”
The $4 Billion Legacy: Elevating the Business of HBCUs
Since taking the helm in 2004, Dr. Lomax has been a powerhouse fundraiser, driving unprecedented corporate partnerships and philanthropic capital into the HBCU ecosystem. Under his watch, UNCF transformed from a traditional scholarship fund into a financial juggernaut and a premier advocate for educational equity.
Key milestones of his transformational leadership include:
The Billion-Dollar Standard: Raised more than $4 billion from private and philanthropic sources to support Black students and institutions.
A 10X Endowment Surge: Skyrocketed UNCF’s endowment from $60 million to $500 million, with projections to hit $600 million before his departure.
Massive Student ROI: Helped more than 300,000 students graduate, awarding scholarships to students across 600 U.S. institutions, including UNCF’s 36 member HBCUs.
Economic Mobility: Positioned HBCUs as vital, non-negotiable engines for workforce development, corporate diversity pipelines, and wealth creation.
Beyond the balance sheets, Lomax reshaped the national narrative around Black colleges, successfully bridging the gap between corporate America, philanthropy, and higher education. Lomax shared his enthusiasm around the organization’s wins with BE at the 2024 UNCF Mayor’s Ball in Atlanta:
Finishing Strong and the Search for the Next Visionary
Lomax isn’t slowing down during his final year. Through June 2027, he will spearhead the rollout of UNCF’s 2030 Strategic Plan and continue driving the organization’s massive $1 billion capital campaign. To guarantee a flawless handoff, Lomax will stay on in a consultative role for a year after his official retirement to support the incoming chief executive.
“Serving as president and CEO of UNCF has been the privilege of a lifetime,” Dr. Lomax said. “Everything we have accomplished has been made possible through the extraordinary partnership of our board, our member institutions, our donors, and the champions who believe deeply in our mission… While this marks an important leadership transition, it is not a pause in our work. UNCF has tremendous momentum.”
The UNCF Board of Directors has already launched a comprehensive national search to identify the next trailblazer capable of building on Lomax’s historic foundation and steering the organization into its next era of growth and multigenerational impact.
About UNCF
Since 1944, UNCF has raised more than $6 billion, helping generations of Black students get to and through college. Awarding more than 13,000 scholarships annually totaling over $64 million, UNCF continues to champion the pipeline of Black professionals and leaders under its iconic banner: “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” ®
