What Health Reform Might Mean for Women of Color??

What: Webinar

When: Wednesday, December 16 at 1pm (ET)

Why: Women tend to take the lead when it comes to obtaining health care for their family members. Provisions such as those that would preclude insurance companies from gender rating, remove barriers to car for pre-existing conditions, and improve access to preventive services will be discussed.

To register: http://www.kff.org/minorityhealth/todaystopics.cfm

Progress on Health Insurance Reform

I apologize for not blogging lately - it seems that I got caught up in life and have clearly missed on some great blogging materials. For one - Health Care Reform!!

Over the past few weeks - Health Care Reform has been exceedingly discussed (as should be) everywhere. Recently, SAALT provided a great summary of the update news...

Over the past few weeks, there have been numerous developments in health insurance reform. Below is a quick rundown of what has happened recently in Congress and the impact on immigrants living in the US.

• House of Representatives: The House of Representatives have merged three bills developed by various committees in the chamber. On Saturday, November 7th, the House passed its version of health reform which includes the public option; prevents insurance companies from discriminating based on gender or health status; expands Medicaid eligibility; prioritizes preventative care; allows undocumented immigrants to participate in the health insurance exchange by using their own money; and increases access to culturally and linguistically appropriate health services. In addition, the bill also prohibits public money from being spent on plans covering abortion, even if paid for with private premium dollars.
• Senate: Two Senate committees, the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) and Finance Committees, have developed their versions of reform. The Senate is expected to start debate sometime next week with a possible vote in December.

None of the bills currently include any provisions that would life the 5-year waiting period for legal immigrants to become eligible for Medicaid and CHIP. Another issue affecting immigrants being considered is whether to impose additional verification requirements on immigrants in order to access the health care system.

The Need for Affordable and Accessible Health Care

This blog is directly taken from SAALT's blog. I find it extremely invaluable in the work that we push forward and want to share thoughts of organizations with similar missions.

Posted by Vega in Community/Policy Connection, Policy, SAALT events on 10 20th, 2009 |

Did you know that as many as 40% of South Asians under 65 report not having a regular source for health care? Or that one-third of all South Asians worldwide has diabetes? Or that 90% of LGBT respondents in a Los Angeles study reported mental health issues? These are some of the startling statistics I learned at last week’s South Asian Health Reform Town Hall co-sponsored by SAALT, theSouth Asian Law Student Association at American University’s Washington College of Law, andCounselors Helping (South) Asians/Indians. Moderated by SAALT Policy Director Priya Murthy, a panel of three health care experts told stories and shared facts about the ways that our health care system and potential legislative solutions affect South Asian and immigrant communities.

The first presenter, Dr. Lavanya Sithandanam, shared heartbreaking stories from her pediatrics practice, such as informally treating serious illnesses of (undocumented immigrant) parents when they came to her office for their (U.S. citizen) child’s appointment, or watching parents of her patients die of treatable diseases simply because they could not afford health care – despite working several jobs in order to provide better lives for their children. She further demonstrated the broken nature of our health insurance/health care system, explaining how insurance companies are making doctors’ jobs more and more difficult by not covering basic preventive health care, by making the process of applying for reimbursements more and more complicated, and by covering fewer and fewer necessary costs such as basic vaccines. And we learned that most doctors support health care reform that includes a public option.

The second presenter, Sapna Pandya, MPH, works with immigrant communities on health care issues. The information she shared focused on the ways that South Asian community members face barriers to receiving health care, including concerns about their visa status, high costs associated with doctor or hospital visits, inadequate transportation options, and limited ability to read or understand English (and let’s face it, even those of us who were practically born reading English can barely make sense of long, complicated health forms filled with medical and legal jargon). She reminded us of the range of health issues that affect our communities, from diabetes and obesity to intimate-partner violence and mental health problems including depression, loneliness, and isolation.

The panel then turned to legislative solutions being offered through House and Senate bills. Alice Dong, Health Law Policy Staff Attorney at Asian American Justice Center (AAJC), provided information about the various bills that are being debated. For the past several months, essentially since August, bills have gotten more and more immigrant-unfriendly. For example, new immigrants must wait five full years before having access to Medicaid or Medicare – this includes infants, children, and the elderly, for whom five years is an incredibly long time to wait for health care. By the time these future Americans finally have access to affordable health care, their health conditions will be far worse than if they had had continuous access from the time they arrived. For undocumented immigrants, the situation foreshadowed by legislative proposals is even more dire, even if they are willing and able to pay for their own insurance. As Alice Dong put it, “politics has taken over logic” in our current health care debates.

From hearing individual stories of difficulties in health care to learning about the extent of structural and medical health disparities, I was moved to take action. Are you? If so, there are steps you can take to get involved and make your voice heard. You can contact your members of Congress to let them know that you support health insurance reform that is affordable and accessible to all.Thursday, October 22, is National Call Day for immigrant inclusion in health reform. Please take two minutes this Thursday to call Speaker Pelosi, NY Representative Rangel, and your Representative with the following message:

“I want Congress to end the five-year waiting period for legal immigrants in Medicaid. I expect Congress to follow New York’s good example and treat legal immigrants the same as citizens in health reform. I also think health reform should include everyone, but until that happens, the safety net health care system must be protected so that people who can’t afford to buy health insurance can still get the health care they need.”

You can reach Speaker Pelosi, Representative Rangel, and your Representative by calling 202- 224-3121. To find your Representative, go to http://www.house.gov/ and enter your zip code.

There are other ways you can get involved: you can join town halls and rallies in your local area; you can write an op-ed sharing your views on health reform; or you can share your own health care story with organizations such as AAJC that are working to collect and disseminate stories about health care issues and difficulties to Congress. And finally, make sure to stay informed and spread the word: you can find updated health reform fact sheets and other resources on SAALT’s website, www.saalt.org.

Health Reform Alert: Call Congress to Support Fair Treatment of Immigrants and Join a Webinar on Health Reform and South Asians

Want to learn more about health care issues affecting the South Asian community?

• Join a webinar on "Health Reform and the South Asian Community" on Monday, October 26th at 2 pm EST/1 pm CST/11 am PST to learn the latest from experts and discuss what it means for the South Asian community. Register for the webinar by clicking here. (After registering you will receive a confirmation email with a link and call-in information and access code. Before the webinar, click the link and call in to the number from your confirmation email. When prompted, enter the access code.)
• Check out two health reform factsheets developed by SAALT on "What You Need to Know about Health Insurance Reform" and "Health Care Issues Affecting South Asians in the United States"
• Learn more about health care issues affecting immigrants by visiting the APIA Health Forum's, the Asian American Justice Center's, and theNational Immigration Law Center's websites.

For additional information, contact SAALT at saalt@saalt.org.

DC Health Care Reform Town Hall for the South Asian Community: Thursday, Oct 15th

South Asian Health Reform Community Town Hall

Thursday, October 15, 2009

6:30pm - 7:45pm

American University - Washington College of Law

4801 Massachusetts Ave, NW (Room 602)

Join local community members for a town hall to learn the latest from experts on what's happening with health reform and discuss what it could mean for the South Asian Community

Location is metro accessible: Located near the Tenleytown Metro Station on the Red Line; Shuttle Service to WCL from tenleytown is available.

RSVP by Tuesday, Oct 13th: saalt@saalt.org

Essay Contest: How Can We Fix Our Health Care System?

The Asian American Action-fund Blog (AAA) is sponsoring an essay contest centered around the healthcare debate. Specifically, how do we fix our system?

Please send your blog post on the following topic:

How can we fix our healthcare system so that everyone can get access to quality, affordable healthcare? Please share your thoughts and personal stories on why we need healthcare reform now (500 words or less).

How to Enter:

Please send entries to Richer Chen: rchen@aaa-fund.org

Deadline: September 25, 2009 at 8pm (EST)

Prizes are as follow:

First Place: One Hundred Fifty Dollars ($150), 2 free tickets to the 2010 AAA-Fund Gala (a $200 value), and an exclusive invitation to become a featured AAA-Fund Blogger

Second Place: 2 free tickets to the 2010 AAA-Fund Gala (a $200 value), and an exclusive invitation to become a featured AAA-Fund Blogger

Third Place: Lunch with a AAA-Fund leader, and an exclusive invitation to become a featured AAA-Fund Blogger

Uninsured in 2008 reaches 46.3 million

According to HealthLeaders Media, the number of uninsured people in the United States reached 46.3 million in 2008. A representation of 15.4% of the U.S. population. The report further identified the following statistics:

• Among the foreign-born population, the uninsured rates for both naturalized citizens (18%) and non-citizens (44.7%) was statistically unchanged.
• The Northeast and Midwest, each at 11.6% had lower uninsured rates than the West (17.4%) and (18.2%)
• The number of people with health insurance increased from 25.3 million in 2007 to 255.1 million in 2008.
• Between 2007 and 2008, the number of people covered by private health insurance decreased from 202 million to 201 million, while the number covered by government health insurance climbed from 83 million to 87.4 million. The number covered by employment-based health insurance declined from 177.4 million to 176.3 million.
• The number of uninsured children declined from 8.1 million (11%) in 2007 to 7.3 million (9.9%) in 2008. Both the uninsured rate and number of uninsured children were the lowest since 1987, the first year that comparable health insure data were collected.
• Although the uninsured rate for children in poverty declined form 17.6% in 2007 to 15.7% in 2008, children in poverty were more likely to be uninsured than all children.

President Obama's Speech on Health Care - Talking Points

In case you missed President Obama's Address to the Joint Session of Congress on Health Care on Wednesday, September 9, 2209...the following are talking points:

When the President is finished speaking tonight, everyone who listens will understand that hisplan has at its core two overriding goals: to bring stability and security to Americans who haveinsurance today, and affordable coverage to those who don’t.

• The President’s plan will bring reforms that will reduce the unsustainable growth in thecost of health care, which has doubled in the last decade and will continue to rise at thatuntenable pace unless we act.

From the beginning of this process, the President has said that he believes reform should bebipartisan. And the plan he outlines tonight will be consistent with that goal – it will containRepublican proposals and Democratic proposals.

• So the Republicans will have to decide whether they are genuine in their wish to work ina bipartisan manner, or whether they will continue to vote against proposals they havesaid are key to reform.

He will clearly lay out what health reform means to Americans – both those that have insurancenow and those that don’t. He will also be clear about what health reform doesn’t mean –clearing up the confusion that has been fomented by the special interests and defenders of thestatus quo.

• He will also answer the big questions about how to move the health reform process forward andmake clear exactly what he considers real reform to be.

It is important to recognize how far we have come.

• Four of the five House and Senate committees have marked up bills. Today SenatorBaucus, who chairs the fifth committee, announced that his committee will move tomarkup shortly. Among those bills there is, essentially, 80 percent agreement, and eachof them is in line with the principles the President has laid out.

We are entering a new phase in the debate.

• Now is the time to begin pulling together the various strands of the bills that have beenwritten and the solutions that have been proposed to create a final product that lowerscosts, ensures that Americans cannot be denied coverage because they get sick, andprovides access to affordable health care for all.
• As the President will say tonight, he is not the first president to take up the cause of health reform but he is determined to be the last.

Members heard a lot from their constituents over August – including stories from people whoare struggling with the rising cost of health care or who have been denied coverage becausethey or someone in their family got sick. One thing has become crystal clear to any memberwho really spent time talking to constituents last month: Doing nothing is not an option.

After this speech, opponents of health reform will need to either propose their own plan orexplain why they think it is best to do nothing while health care costs continue to rise 3 timesfaster than wage, millions of Americans continue to be denied coverage because they got sick,and insecurity continues to grow. In just 2 years, 1 in 3 Americans experienced a gap incoverage. What the President will offer the country is stability and security in our healthinsurance system.

On Gov. Palin’s Attacks:

• Every non partisan organization that has looked at her claims says they are false. And the ideasin her op‐ed are both scary and risky. Eliminating Medicare and giving our seniors vouchersinstead is a bad idea that we shouldn’t adopt.

Community-Based Health Centers Could Save States Millions of Dollars

According to recent study conducted by The George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services - - "Community Health Centers in Indiana: State Investments and Returns" - - these key findings indicate the importance of health care centers in the U.S., particularly to vulnerable populations:

1. For every dollar spent on patient care at an Indiana Community Health Center, $1.90 is saved in overall health care spending when compared with other primary care settings.
2. Indiana CHCs effectively target a population that is economically stressed and financially and medically at risk. Approximately nine in 10CHC patients have incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level(FPL).
3. Health care services provided at Indiana CHCs are less costly than those provided at other outpatient provider settings, with an annual per-patient cost of $1,529 at CHCs versus $2,924 in other settings --resulting in a savings of $1,395 per patient.
4. Lower medical costs resulted in savings of $473 million for Indiana’s health care system realized through the lower cost of health care in ambulatory health center settings as well as reduced spending on hospital emergency room utilization and a lower rate of in-patient hospital admission.
5. In addition to direct savings to the health care system, each dollar spent by the state on I-CHCs is associated with between $6 and $17 of value, in terms of revenues generated from all sources for the delivery of services at I-CHCs.

Although the report is focused in Indiana, the results show they have implications in all states.

To access the report, please visit: http://www.gwumc.edu/sphhs/departments/healthpolicy/dhp_publications/pub_uploads/dhpPublication_A7BA8B9A-5056-9D20-3D3852F88AC4EF03.pdf

How Health Insurance Reform Will Help Minorities

Below is information that came from the White House Office of Public Engagement on how health reform affects minorities. 

Lower Costs for Minority Families

Preventive Care for Better Health:  Racial and ethnic minorities are often less likely to receive preventive care. Vietnamese women, for example, are half as likely to receive a pap smear, and twice as likely to die from cervical cancer as are Whites. Obesity rates are also high among certain minority groups.  By ensuring all Americans have access to preventive care and by investing in public health, health insurance reform will work to create a system that prevents illness and disease instead of just treating it when it’s too late and costs more. 

Greater Choices

More Affordable Choices and Competition: African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians are all more likely to need a referral in order to see a specialist and they are less likely to get coverage for seeing a doctor outside of the insurance network. Health insurance reform will create a health insurance exchange so you can compare prices and health plans and decide which quality affordable option is right for you and your family.  It will include a competitive public option that increases choices and holds private insurers accountable.  

Quality, Affordable Health Care for Minorities

Eliminate Discrimination in Obtaining Health Insurance:  Health insurance reform will prevent any insurance company from denying coverage based on a person’s medical history, including genetic discrimination, which can disproportionately hurt minority populations.

Make Health Care Accessible to Everyone: African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans are roughly twice as likely to be uninsured as the rest of the population.  By providing health insurance choices to all Americans and providing premium assistance to make it affordable, health insurance reform will significantly reduce disparities in accessing high- quality health care.

Control Chronic Disease:   Nearly half of African Americans suffer from a chronic disease, compared with 40% of the general population.  Chronic illness is growing in other minority communities as well.  Health insurance reform includes a number of programs to prevent and control chronic disease, including incentives to provide medical homes and chronic disease management pilots in Medicare. 

Promote Primary Care: By providing health insurance choices through a health insurance exchange and investing in the primary care workforce (including scholarships and grants to increase diversity in health professions), health reform will make sure that all Americans have access to a primary care doctor so they stay healthier, longer.  It will also strengthen the system of safety-net hospitals and community health centers to ensure high-quality, accessible care.

Fight Health Disparities:  Health reform legislation will require any health care program to report on race, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status in order to better understand health disparities, and devote funding to addressing these issues.

Health Care Reform

SAALT recently provided a summary of the current state of Obama's proposal for Health Care Reform and how it affects low-income patients and South Asian Americans:

Congress and the White House have made health care reform one of their top priorities. President Obama's proposal for health care reform includes health insurance exchange program that includes "public option" (where low-income patients can choose their own doctors but the government will assist with the expense) and increasing primary care medical services to promote prevention treatments and reduce unnecessary medical procedures.

Recently, there has been a flurry of activity and bill drafting happening in Congress. Three committees in the House of Representatives have presented a discussion draft of health care reform legislation that includes a requirement that all individuals obtain health insurance; a health insurance exchange; a public health insurance option; and improvements to Medicaid and Medicare. The Senate has also been working on the "Affordable Health Choices Act," which includes provisions addressing the choice of coverage options; reduction of health care costs; prevention; modernization of health systems and long term care and services. Negotiations have been underway in the Senate to cut costs within the proposal by reducing subsidies for low-income uninsured populations.

One of the most pressing issues affecting South Asians is health care. In fact, approximately 20 percent of South Asians lack health coverage plans leaving affordable health care out of reach for many community members. In addition, linguistic and cultural barriers prevent many limited English proficient South Asians from being able to communicate effectively with health care professionals and obtain emergency assistance when needed. Community members are encouraged to contact Congress and express support for health care coverage for all, funding for culturally competent and lingustically accessible health care services, and ensuring access to Medicare and Medicaid for non-citizens.

"The Myth of the Burdensome Immigrants"

In the May edition of SAMAR magazine Sapna Pandya and Prantik Saha published an article on "Xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiments situate South Asian and other immigrant communities as burdens on the health care system, missing the barriers, racism and classism they experience. To meet the needs of immigrant workers, these structural inequalities need to be addressed and considered in proposals for US health care reform."

For more information and to read the entire report, please visit: http://www.samarmagazine.org/archive/article.php?id=291