Highbrow Magazine - health insurance https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/health-insurance en Healthcare Ranks as Top Issue as Midterm Elections Approach https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/8865-healthcare-ranks-top-issue-midterm-elections-approach <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Sun, 02/04/2018 - 14:59</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/4healthcare.jpg?itok=FSm8cHrL"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/4healthcare.jpg?itok=FSm8cHrL" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>This is an excerpt of a story produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation. Read the rest </strong><a href="http://asianjournal.com/news/in-battleground-races-health-care-lags-as-hot-button-issue-poll-finds/"><strong>here</strong></a><strong>. </strong></p> <p> </p> <p>As the midterm elections approach, healthcare ranks as the top issue, mentioned more frequently among voters nationwide than among those living in areas with competitive races, a new poll finds.</p> <p> </p> <p>In areas with competitive congressional or gubernatorial races, the economy and jobs ranked as the top issue for candidates to discuss, with 34 percent of registered voters listing it as No. 1, according to the poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation. (Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the foundation.) Following economics was the conflict with North Korea (23 percent), immigration (22 percent) and healthcare (21 percent). The competitive areas are 13 states with statewide races and 19 House districts judged as toss-ups by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.</p> <p> </p> <p>Nationwide, 29 percent of registered voters ranked healthcare as the most important issue for electoral discussion — though it was far more important for Democrats than Republicans. Economy and jobs were close behind with 27 percent of voters rating it most important, and then immigration, with 24 percent listing it.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/7healthcare.jpg" style="height:325px; width:374px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>The poll found that nearly half of Americans believed there is still a federal requirement for everyone to obtain health insurance, even though Congress’ tax bill last year repealed the penalties for that requirement in the Affordable Care Act, known as the individual mandate. Only a third of the public were sure that those penalties had been repealed.</p> <p> </p> <p>Fifty percent of the public expressed a favorable view of the health law, while 42 percent disliked it. Six in 10 people said that since Donald Trump and the Republicans in Congress have altered the law, they are responsible for any problems. Like other opinions about the law, there was a strong partisan split: Only 38 percent of Republicans thought their party is now responsible, while 77 percent of Democrats thought so. Half of Republicans still listed repealing the health law as a top priority.</p> <p> </p> <p>There was less of a partisan split over the importance that the president and Congress address the epidemic of prescription painkiller addiction. Among Republicans, 43 percent rated it a top priority; 54 percent of Democrats agreed.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>This is an excerpt of a story produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation. Read the rest </strong><a href="http://asianjournal.com/news/in-battleground-races-health-care-lags-as-hot-button-issue-poll-finds/"><strong>here</strong></a><strong>. </strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/healthcare-poll" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">healthcare poll</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/midterm-elections" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">midterm elections</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/2018-elections" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">2018 elections</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obamacare" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Obamacare</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health-law" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health law</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health-insurance" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health insurance</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Jordan Rau</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Wikipedia Commons</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Sun, 04 Feb 2018 19:59:24 +0000 tara 7918 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/8865-healthcare-ranks-top-issue-midterm-elections-approach#comments McCain’s Health Battle Casts Ugly Glare on GOP Healthcare Assault https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/7745-mccain-s-health-battle-casts-ugly-glare-gop-healthcare-assault <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Sun, 07/23/2017 - 12:57</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1johnmccain.jpg?itok=S7fTHUJm"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1johnmccain.jpg?itok=S7fTHUJm" width="480" height="277" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>From our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2017/07/mccains-health-battle-casts-ugly-glare-on-gop-health-care-assault.php">New America Media</a></strong>:</p> <p> </p> <p>Arizona Senator John McCain will get and deserves the best medical care he can get in his battle against brain cancer. Millions rightly will be pulling for his healthful recovery. But McCain’s health battle also casts an ugly glare on the hypocrisy and contradiction in the GOP’s relentless war against Obamacare. It starts with McCain. In August 2016, he was in a mildly tough fight for re-election to his sixth Senate term. The issue that McCain went after was healthcare, specifically, Obamacare. He bluntly told a Fox Business interviewer that Obamacare was “collapsing like a house of cards.”</p> <p>       </p> <p>This was not simply another case of a GOP senator taking a straight, hard-line stance against the Affordable Care Act. McCain made it plain before he lashed out at Obamacare on Fox that healthcare should be mostly left to the free market. He ticked off a checklist of ways healthcare should function. It included such things as: risk pools, greater interstate insurance availability, and letting people opt out of healthcare completely. Said McCain, we must go back to “square one” with healthcare and take a “capitalistic approach to it.”</p> <p> </p> <p>McCain has been as good as his word and belief about what healthcare should be about and the limited role government should play in it. Between 1996 and 2007, he voted against every federal measure to either expand or strengthen healthcare coverage. This includes: funding for the State Children Health Insurance Program by increasing the tobacco tax, increases for AIDS prevention drug assistance, tax credits for long term and chronic healthcare needs, credits to small business owners for employee health insurance coverage, and the extension of healthcare coverage to mental illness.</p> <p>                                       </p> <p>In every case when a proposal was made to increase funding or expand a vital healthcare program, McCain could be counted on to oppose it. In contrast, the government will pay the bulk of the costs of McCain’s care. He is also eligible to receive limited medical services from the Office of the Attending Physician of the U.S. Capitol. And, since he is a military veteran, he can be treated free of charge at Washington, D.C. area hospitals, Walter Reed Army Medical Center and National Naval Medical Center. Again, all costs for his care will be paid by the government.</p> <p> </p> <p>McCain’s proposals to replace Obamacare is simply another variation of what the GOP has plopped on the table. They are just as dreadful.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2mediumhealthcare_1.jpg" style="height:335px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>They include scaled-down subsidies, tax credits, the expansion of high-risk pools, health savings accounts, give insurers the right to peddle insurance in any state they choose, and create Association Health Plans to small businesses and risk pools. The subsidies would scrap the income-based measure that Obamacare imposes and substitute instead age as the basis for the subsidy. The subsidy to the poorest and neediest was the linchpin of Obamacare. This made it possible for millions who couldn’t afford insurance at any price to purchase it for the first time. To get the tax credits a low-wage worker would still have to come up with the cash to purchase insurance. For many that would be problematic.</p> <p> </p> <p>The high-risk pools that McCain touts supposedly would move thousands of medically indigent persons in pools to ensure low cost access to coverage. In fact it would do just the opposite. The bulk of those in the pool would be the sickest and most in need of continuous medical treatment. They would pay more, not less for that coverage. To cover the high cost of maintaining these pools, states would have to pony up more tax dollars or impose premium assessments on insurers who in turn would simply hike their prices to cover the assessments. It would be a never-ending cost increase cycle with absolutely no guarantee that the sickest and neediest in the pool would get the coverage they need.</p> <p> </p> <p>Under the plan that McCain and other GOP senators had proposed, a staggering 30 million Americans would have been plucked from the healthcare rolls in the next decade. This according to a report from the Congressional Budget Office on the impact that ending Obamacare would have on the nation. Millions, of course, either had no insurance or went without coverage for a period during the course of a year or years before Obamacare kicked in. Many others who got coverage also lost that coverage, almost always because they couldn’t pay for it, or the insurer dropped them because of a medical condition that the insurer considered too costly to pay for. The state of American healthcare was worse than abysmal for millions.</p> <p> </p> <p>McCain’s claim that Obamacare is collapsing, and that the private market will take care of all health needs has no basis in fact. The high quality of care he’ll get in his fight against cancer almost entirely at government expense proves that. McCain is the best argument that all should receive the same quality of care.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His forthcoming book, The Trump Challenge to Black America (Middle Passage Press) will be released in August. He is a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on Radio One. He is the host of the weekly Hutchinson Report on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles and the Pacifica Network.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>From our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2017/07/mccains-health-battle-casts-ugly-glare-on-gop-health-care-assault.php">New America Media</a></strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/john-mccain" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">john mccain</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/healthcare" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">healthcare</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/better-care-act" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">better care act</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obamacare" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Obamacare</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health-insurance" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health insurance</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/healtcare-reform" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">healtcare reform</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/republicans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Republicans</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Earl Ofari Hutchinson </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Sun, 23 Jul 2017 16:57:35 +0000 tara 7628 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/7745-mccain-s-health-battle-casts-ugly-glare-gop-healthcare-assault#comments Working Class Will Be Hardest Hit by Republican Health Bill https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/7465-working-class-will-be-hardest-hit-republican-health-bill <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Sun, 03/12/2017 - 15:40</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1gophealth.jpg?itok=flRnUk_V"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1gophealth.jpg?itok=flRnUk_V" width="480" height="331" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>From our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2017/03/back-to-the-er----poor-families-will-be-hardest-hit-by-republican-health-bill.php">New America Media</a>: </strong></p> <p> </p> <p>BERKELEY, Calif. – The healthcare bill introduced by House Republicans last Monday will cause millions of people to lose their health insurance, experts say.</p> <p> </p> <p>Among the hardest hit will be low-income families, who will be forced to go back to the Emergency Room for their medical care, says Marty Lynch, executive director of LifeLong Medical Care, a 40-year-old Federally Qualified Health Clinic with 14 locations in the San Francisco Bay Area.</p> <p> </p> <p>FQHCs like his -- long the safety net for poor and undocumented families in underserved areas -- are now bracing for the fallout from the planned repeal of the Affordable Care Act.</p> <p> </p> <p>Around 5 million Californians were able to get health insurance thanks to the ACA’s expansion of Medi-Cal (California’s name for the health insurance program for low-income people known as Medicaid in the rest of the nation) and the federal tax subsidies the ACA provides for those who buy insurance through the online marketplace. The state’s uninsured rate dropped to a record low of 7.1 percent last year. The majority of patients who today access FQHC services have insurance either through Medi-Cal or Covered California, the state’s online marketplace.</p> <p> </p> <p>Many of those customers could lose their health insurance under the new bill, called the American Health Care Act, which would change Medicaid funding so that states would be forced to choose Medicaid funding as a block grant or as a per capita cap. Healthcare advocates believe neither funding mechanism will cover California’s ongoing needs.</p> <p> </p> <p>They have spoken out strongly against the bill. Carmela Castellano-Garcia, president and chief executive office of CaliforniaHealth + Advocates, observed that the new bill would abandon “our most vulnerable communities by rolling back foundational safety-net programs like [Medi-Cal] expansion.”</p> <p> </p> <p>After California Representatives Mimi Walters, R-Laguna Niguel, and Devin Nunes, R-Tulare, voted to repeal the ACA March 9, Health Access Executive Director Anthony Wright said in a press release:</p> <p> </p> <p>“It is stunning that Californians like Rep. Nunes and Rep. Walters voted for this bill, given the direct and disproportionate impacts on California and our health system.”</p> <p> </p> <p>NAM interviewed LifeLong Executive Director Lynch about how his clinic would be impacted by going from ‘Obamacare’ to ‘Trumpcare.’</p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/4healthcare_1.jpg" style="height:349px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Has the ACA been a game changer for LongLife?</strong></p> <p>Oh yes, totally. Medi-Cal expansion and subsidized private insurance under the ACA have substantially increased our insured patient population. In 2013, [prior to the ACA] we had 25,000 insured patients. At the end of 2016, we had 59,000 patients. About 60 percent of our previously uninsured patients got coverage.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>How are you able to draw primary care doctors to treat your Medi-Cal patients when the reimbursement rate for the program is so low, in fact, one of the lowest in the country?</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Healthcare payment methodology for FQHCs is ruled by federal law. It’s a lot better than what doctors in the Medi-Cal network get in other healthcare facilities.</p> <p> </p> <p>But our workforce is a big issue. We are experiencing a shortage of primary care doctors, like everywhere else in the nation, because more doctors are opting to become specialists.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>So with more Medi-Cal patients coming to your clinic since the ACA, has your bottom line improved, and by extension, has that allowed you to expand services?</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>FQHCs received a financial boost under President (George W.) Bush. The ACA expanded funding further.</p> <p> </p> <p>It definitely takes some pressure off to have more patients. With the extra income, we were able to open additional clinics in Pinole, Rodeo and downtown Oakland. We now have an urgent care facility in San Pablo. We have been able to hire more dentists and mental healthcare providers.</p> <p> </p> <p>LongLife has also benefited from the federal government’s pumping of more money into the so-called Section 330 grants. [The 330 grant money gives qualified clinics the option of offering services that aren’t billable to insurance plans.] But this grant has to be renewed annually and with all that’s happening in Washington, the $4 million we should get under Section 330 is now not certain. We had planned to use that money to expand our Pinole center. Some of that money would have also been used to build a clinic in the City of Richmond, one which will have among other things a family care center, pediatric care, dental clinic and urgent care services.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>So have you put all your expansion plans on hold?</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>We could be paralyzed by Trump fear, but we don’t want to let that happen. I am very disappointed with all the talk about repealing and replacing. Our community will be in a much worse place when it comes to accessing healthcare. They will be going back to the day when they resort to the Emergency Rooms to get their healthcare.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>How is LifeLong preparing for the financial cliff that is likely to happen?</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>As a community clinic, we’ll adapt with whatever resources we have. But that won’t happen without patients getting hurt.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>From our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2017/03/back-to-the-er----poor-families-will-be-hardest-hit-by-republican-health-bill.php">New America Media</a></strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/american-health-care-act" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">american health care act</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/republican-health-bill" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">republican health bill</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/donald-trump" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Donald Trump</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obamacare" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Obamacare</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health-insurance" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health insurance</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/gop" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">GOP</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Viji Sundaram</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Google Images; Wikipedia Commons</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Sun, 12 Mar 2017 19:40:42 +0000 tara 7415 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/7465-working-class-will-be-hardest-hit-republican-health-bill#comments How Obamacare Improved Americans’ Health https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/7296-how-obamacare-improved-americans-health <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Sat, 01/21/2017 - 14:49</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1obamaclapping.jpg?itok=YpvEbE2u"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1obamaclapping.jpg?itok=YpvEbE2u" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>From <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2017/01/how-obamacare-improved-the-nations-health.php">AFRO/New America Media</a> (our content partner)</strong>:</p> <p> </p> <p>WASHINGTON, D.C.--Ashley Turner has experienced ups and downs with the Affordable Care Act, but says she and other Americans have benefited overall. She doesn’t believe that Republicans should try to dismantle the ACA, also known as Obamacare.</p> <p> </p> <p>“That would be a mistake on their end,” said Turner, who lives in Hyattsville, Md. “People who are currently insured with the different plans that fall under the Obamacare law, they will no longer be insured and there will be a ripple effect with debt with hospitals not being paid, the doctors not being paid, and with more and more people not being covered.”</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>32 Million Would Lose Care</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>If the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is even partially dismantled, 18 million people could become uninsured within a year, according to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).</p> <p> </p> <p>That number could nearly double to 32 million by 2026, the CBO estimated, if the Medicaid expansion is rolled back and subsidies cut to those who paid for insurance through the marketplaces set up under the ACA.</p> <p> </p> <p>“I’m healthy, but I have glaucoma in one of my eyes,” Turner said. She was able to use Obamacare from 2015 to 2016 to cover treatments and visits to specialists.</p> <p> </p> <p>Economist Julianne Malveaux and journalist Michael Days agreed that the ACA was President Obama’s signature achievement, during a recent signing and discussion of their books in Washington, D.C., assessing his legacy.</p> <p> </p> <p>“With the Affordable Care Act, he expanded the social contract for the first time in several decades,” said Malveaux, author of <em>Are We Better Off? Race, Obama and Public Policy (M Malveaux Enterprises, 2016)</em>, in her mixed assessment of the president’s overall track record during his eight years in the Oval Office.</p> <p> </p> <p>The lives saved under ACA are “incalculable,” said Days, author of <em>Obama’s Legacy: What He Accomplished as President (Hachette Books, 2016)</em> and Pulitzer Prize-winning editor of the Philadelphia News.</p> <p> </p> <p>Here are a few ways that Americans have benefited under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which President Obama signed in 2010 and was rolled out in late 2013:</p> <p> </p> <p>•           The number of uninsured people declined. When open enrollment began for Obamacare in 2013, census figures indicated that 50 million people were uninsured in the United States, an increase of 5 million from 2007 to 2009, the height of the Great Recession. Since the rollout, about 20 million people ended up with health insurance, according to the White House. This includes 3 million African-American adults, whose uninsured rate dropped 53 percent since 2013.</p> <p> </p> <p>•           Young people were able to stay on their parents’ insurance plans until age 26. This was one of the earlier provisions of ACA with 6.1 million young adults covered dating back before 2013. Since then, the uninsured rate for young people has dropped by 47 percent.</p> <p> </p> <p>•           Women gained more comprehensive services for reproductive healthcare. This included well-woman visits, mammograms, contraceptive coverage, breast cancer tests for women at high risk, prenatal services and breastfeeding support.</p> <p> </p> <p>•           People with pre-existing conditions were able to obtain coverage. Under ACA, coverage can’t be denied nor benefits reduced if someone has a history of heart disease, for example.</p> <p> </p> <p>•           A wider pool of people saved on out-of-pocket costs for healthcare. This ranged from savings on immunizations to annual physicals for Medicare recipients.</p> <p> </p> <p>•           Medicaid was expanded to reach more low-income adults under the age of 65. Even though at least two dozen states opted out the Medicaid expansion, more than 4 million people with average individual incomes of roughly $16,000 gained coverage.</p> <p> </p> <p>Republicans have vowed to kill Obamacare. With control of the three branches of government, including Donald Trump in the White House, they have the potential to do serious damage, ACA supporters claim.</p> <p> </p> <p>Newly elected U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, D-Calif., warned of hidden consequences during a recent rally in California.</p> <p> </p> <p>“If you’re a victim of domestic violence,” Harris said, “you can be denied access to healthcare because being a victim of domestic violence is considered a pre-existing condition. That ain’t right.”</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/4healthcareobama.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Linda Goler Blount, president and CEO of the National Black Women’s Health Imperative in Washington, D.C., has offered to work with the Trump administration to find ways to preserve healthcare gains.</p> <p> </p> <p>“We are extremely concerned that a Trump presidency and its resulting policies will mean increased mortality from avoidable chronic diseases, rising rates of poverty and, frankly, the weakening of black communities across the U.S.,” Blount said.</p> <p> </p> <p>Steven P. Wallace, Ph.D., director of the Coordinating Center for the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging Resource Centers on Minority Aging Research, has similar concerns.</p> <p> </p> <p>“Any social program that’s being looked at for modernization or change is going to have a disproportionate impact on communities of color,” Wallace warned during the Gerontological Society of America’s Annual Scientific Meeting.</p> <p> </p> <p>“Anything that reduces Medicaid is going to have a huge impact,” he added. Looking at out-of-pocket spending for healthcare as a percentage of personal income, Wallace said it would be 2.9 percent for poor people with Medicaid, but 20.7 percent without it.</p> <p> </p> <p>With the graying of America, the impact would be even greater, Wallace noted, if Republicans are successful in their promises to cut back on Medicaid as well as Medicare.</p> <p> </p> <p>“The number of older adults will double in 30 years,” he said. “The fastest growth in the aging population is communities of color.” The African-American elderly population is projected to grow from 3.8 million in 2012 to 10.3 million by 2050, according to Wallace.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>The Individual Mandate</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>A key and controversial component of the health plan is the “individual mandate,” requiring citizens who can afford insurance to maintain basic coverage or pay a penalty through the Internal Revenue Service. People could keep or obtain insurance through their employers or go through state exchanges being set up to provide subsidized coverage.</p> <p> </p> <p>The mandate is also intended to reduce overall healthcare costs to taxpayers across the board. It provides an incentive for insurance companies to cover the sickest and poorest patients by gaining a wider pool of healthy people to offset the cost of chronic illness. In addition, the ACA offers tax credits to help small businesses provide health insurance for their employees.</p> <p> </p> <p>The downside of ACA for Ashley Turner is that she’s unexpectedly on the receiving end of the penalty after attempting to adjust her premiums and deductibles through a health exchange in Maryland.</p> <p> </p> <p>“Somebody messed up the policies,” Turner said. “I wasn’t insured between January and May, because of their miscommunications.”</p> <p> </p> <p>“My issue, for reasons that are not my fault, is that I’m going to be charged this tax fee, because I had a period of being uninsured,” said Turner, who now has coverage on her own</p> <p> </p> <p>Nevertheless, Turner remains an Obamacare optimist.</p> <p> </p> <p>“From my experience, I think Obamacare is a good policy,” she said, “but it works better for people who are sick or people who are poor and can’t afford individual insurance outside an employer.”</p> <p> </p> <p>With the last day for open enrollment approaching on Jan. 31, for coverage under the hallmark of President Obama’s legacy, he too remains optimistic and throws down a challenge.</p> <p> </p> <p>“If anyone can put together a plan that is demonstrably better than the improvements we’ve made to our healthcare system and that covers as many people at less cost,” President Obama said last week in his farewell address, “I will publicly support it.”</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Yanick Rice Lamb, co-founder of the health website FierceforBlackWomen.com, is chair of the Department of Media, Journalism and Film at Howard University. She wrote this article with support from the Journalists in Aging Fellows Program, a project of the Gerontological Society of America and New America Media, with funding from the Commonwealth Fund.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>From <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2017/01/how-obamacare-improved-the-nations-health.php">AFRO/New America Media</a> (our content partner)</strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obamacare" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Obamacare</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/affordable-care-act" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Affordable Care Act</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/trump-1" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">trump</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/healthcare" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">healthcare</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/repealing-obamacare" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">repealing obamacare</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health-insurance" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health insurance</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Yanick Rice Lamb</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Sat, 21 Jan 2017 19:49:03 +0000 tara 7341 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/7296-how-obamacare-improved-americans-health#comments The Dangers of Repealing Obamacare https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/7278-dangers-repealing-obamacare <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Sun, 01/01/2017 - 13:17</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/4healthcareobama.jpg?itok=OzxSH02X"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/4healthcareobama.jpg?itok=OzxSH02X" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>From our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2016/12/people-of-color-and-the-poor-will-be-hardest-hit-by-aca-repeal.php">New America Media</a></strong>:</p> <p> </p> <p>President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to repeal and replace Obamacare is bad news for millions of Americans, but the poor and people of color are going to be hit hardest, say healthcare advocates.</p> <p> </p> <p>“The winners and losers from repealing Obamacare will depend crucially on the details of whatever replacement plan materializes,” said Larry Levitt, senior vice president for special initiatives at the Kaiser Family Foundation during a webinar Dec. 19. “Based on what those replacement plans look like so far, it seems that the poor and people with pre-existing medical conditions could end up worse off.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Approximately 20 million people have gotten coverage since the launch of Obamacare.</p> <p> </p> <p>Trump has yet to reveal details of what he plans to do to the 2010 Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, other than to say that he intends to dismantle it soon after he takes office. It’s likely that some parts of it will be left untouched – like the pre-existing condition provision – and replacement could be delayed by a couple of years.</p> <p> </p> <p>The webinar was organized by the nonprofit California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), to give journalists an overview of what California, the state that took the lead in implementing some of the key provisions of Obamacare, could face if Trump makes good on his threat.</p> <p> </p> <p>Among those provisions were expanding Medi-Cal (California’s name for Medicaid) and setting up a health insurance marketplace for people to purchase federally subsidized coverage best suited to their budget, said Amy Adams, CHCF’s senior program officer. Additionally, even before the ACA became law, the state banned the prevalent practice of gender-based premium cost variations – younger women were paying more than men.</p> <p> </p> <p>As a result of its robust implementation, the state’s uninsured rate for residents under 65 fell by nearly half, from 22 percent in 2009 to 9.5 percent in 2015, according to a California Health Interview Survey (CHIS). More low-income people who historically were shut out of health insurance were able to gain coverage, as were people in minority communities.</p> <p> </p> <p>The survey showed that uninsured rates fell by nearly 7 percent among Asian Americans and African Americans, and 6.5 percent among Latinos.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2mediumhealthcare_0.jpg" style="height:335px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>More than 10 percent of the populations in the counties of Fresno, Kern, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Joaquin and Tulare got coverage, according to a just-released UC Berkeley Labor Center study.</p> <p> </p> <p>A repeal would mean that California would lose around $20 billion in annual federal funding for Medi-Cal expansion and Covered California subsidies, making it virtually impossible for it to continue offering those programs.</p> <p> </p> <p>“It is a very large amount of money and would be difficult for the state to generate a comparable amount of revenue,” to go it alone, pointed out Adams.</p> <p> </p> <p>“It would be difficult for any individual state to try to raise the money required and provide benefits comparable to the ACA,” Levitt said. “That would put the state significantly at odds with other states in terms of tax rates and public benefits.”</p> <p> </p> <p>But critics of the ACA say that one of the least popular provisions of the law – forcing individuals to have health insurance and companies to cover their employees or face a penalty – would be eliminated with a repeal. An estimated $1.3 billion would be lost in eliminated penalties.</p> <p> </p> <p>One idea Trump’s advisory team has been floating is to allow insurance carriers to sell insurance across state borders, something some insurers already do. That could come with its own set of problems, Levitt said, because it could drive people to states where the insurance industry is less regulated. He said California has been able to rein in its providers to some degree because of “its stringent regulations.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Levitt pointed out that the safety net provided by Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC), clinics that provide healthcare to underserved communities, would weaken if the ACA were repealed. Those unable to retain their insurance coverage would likely flock to FQHCs, putting an extra burden on them.</p> <p> </p> <p>“There are a lot of moving pieces,” at this time, Levitt said. “No doubt that people are split on the ACA,” he said. “But ACA is status quo.”</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>From our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2016/12/people-of-color-and-the-poor-will-be-hardest-hit-by-aca-repeal.php">New America Media</a></strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obamacare" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Obamacare</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/aca" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">ACA</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/donald-trump" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Donald Trump</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obama" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Obama</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health-insurance" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health insurance</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/healthcare" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">healthcare</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Viji Sundaram</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Sun, 01 Jan 2017 18:17:35 +0000 tara 7314 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/7278-dangers-repealing-obamacare#comments 16.9 Million More Americans Are Insured Through Obamacare https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/5006-million-more-americans-are-insured-through-obamacare <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Thu, 05/14/2015 - 15:37</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/4healthcareObama_1.jpg?itok=9QKAStIV"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/4healthcareObama_1.jpg?itok=9QKAStIV" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>From <a href="http://asianjournal.com/news/16-9-million-more-americans-insured-under-affordable-care-act-study-says/">Asian Journal</a> and republished by our content partner New America Media</strong>:</p> <p> </p> <p>Nearly 17 million Americans have gained health insurance since key provisions of the Affordable Care Act were implemented in 2013, according to a study by nonprofit research organization RAND Corp. The report, released Wednesday, May 6, in the journal <em>Health Affairs</em>, found that from September 2013 to February 2013, 22.8 million individuals signed up for coverage, while 5.9 million lost coverage, resulting in a net gain of 16.9 million. The study examined a sample of about 1,600 people who were surveyed in 2013 and 2015.</p> <p> </p> <p>Because of the small number, findings should be considered rough estimates rather than precise measurements, according to Bloomberg. However, because researchers queried the same people twice, they were able to obtain a more in-depth look into how coverage shifted in the 18-month time period. “While the vast majority of those previously insured experienced no change in their source of coverage, 5.9 million people lost coverage over the period studied, and 24.6 million moved from one source of coverage to another,” the researchers wrote.</p> <p> </p> <p>Among sources of coverage included employers (9.6 million), Medicaid (6.5 million) and Obamacare marketplaces (4.1 million). Gains occurred in all these areas, said Katherine Carman, lead author of the study and an economist at RAND.</p> <p> </p> <p>Carman also said that although the Affordable Care Act has greatly expanded health insurance coverage, it has not changed the way most previously-insured Americans are obtaining coverage. Employer-sponsored health insurance is the largest source of coverage among Americans younger than the age of 65, according to the study.</p> <p> </p> <p>Much concern regarding coverage rose in 2013 when insurers voided millions of older plans that did not meet ObamaCare standards, but the report notes that the number of individuals that were losing coverage was nearly the same level as it was before. “We found that the vast majority of those with individual market insurance in 2013 remained insured in 2015, which suggests that even among those who had their individual market policies canceled, most found coverage through an alternative source,” the study states.</p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/4healthcare_0.jpg" style="height:349px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>The RAND report shows that approximately 600,000 out of 8.5 million who lost their individual health policies for not meeting Affordable Care Act requirements ended up uninsured. In contrast, more than half of the 43 million who were uninsured in September 2013 had coverage in February 2015.</p> <p> </p> <p>Carman’s team found that 11.2 million purchased health insurance on the government marketplaces, which is close to the federal government’s estimate of 11.7 million. Although people may have obtained coverage independently of the Affordable Care Act, such as by securing jobs with health benefits, the expansion of Medicaid and subsidized marketplaces was a significant factor in the increase, according to Bloomberg.</p> <p> </p> <p>Data from a Gallup poll reflects a similar estimate to the study, posting that 16.4 million people gaining coverage under the Affordable Care Act. The Gallup Corporation and the Department of Health and Human Services estimate that about 13 percent of American adults still do not have health insurance coverage.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>From <a href="http://asianjournal.com/news/16-9-million-more-americans-insured-under-affordable-care-act-study-says/">Asian Journal</a> and republished by our content partner New America Media</strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obamacare" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Obamacare</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/affordable-care-act" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Affordable Care Act</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health-care" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health care</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health-insurance" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health insurance</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Agnes Constante</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Google Images; Wikipedia Commons</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Thu, 14 May 2015 19:37:57 +0000 tara 6004 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/5006-million-more-americans-are-insured-through-obamacare#comments The Good News About Healthcare Costs https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/3918-good-news-about-healthcare-costs <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Fri, 04/18/2014 - 10:25</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/2mediumhealthcare_0.jpg?itok=HCGf8-7k"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/2mediumhealthcare_0.jpg?itok=HCGf8-7k" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>From <a href="http://punditwire.com/2014/04/17/so-whats-the-problem/">PunditWire:</a></p> <p> </p> <p>If the good news we’ve been hearing about American health costs in the past few months turns out to be the new norm – it’s too early to tell – then much of today’s political debate is wildly misguided.  Consultants <a href="http://www.pwc.com/us/en/health-industries/behind-the-numbers/#readmore">predict</a> 2014 will see abnormally low inflation, again.  <a href="http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Newsletters/Washington-Health-Policy-in-Review/2014/Apr/April-14-2014/Rate-Announcement-Reveals-More-Evidence-of-Medicare-Spending-Slowdown.aspx?omnicid=16">Medicare spending</a> per beneficiary is dropping more than previously anticipated.  And new tools provided by Obamacare to constrain costs <a href="http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Newsletters/Washington-Health-Policy-in-Review/2014/Mar/March-10-2014/Health-Laws-Legacy-May-Be-Cost-Controls.aspx">could accelerate</a> these trends.</p> <p> </p> <p>If these trends are more than a benign anomaly, they would not only ease pressure on the Medicare budget, but would moderate government health spending generally, a development that could vaporize concerns about the growing cost of entitlement programs.  As analysts of all political stripes have been saying, America’s government doesn’t have a spending problem; it has a health spending problem.  Find a way to control health costs and those scary graphs of projected uncontrolled government spending are replaced by lines reflecting tolerable, incremental growth.</p> <p> </p> <p>But wait, as they say on late-night television, there’s more.  Ballooning insurance costs in the past decade have sucked up money employers otherwise would have spent on pay hikes.  So a moderation of medical costs could ease the wage stagnation problem.</p> <p>Of course, here in wonkworld, it’s a given that no news, even the contrarian trend just described, is totally good news.  In fact, we’d be confronted with a new set of problems.  There’s a direct link between medical costs and the amount of care delivered.  If costs are moderating, that suggests – and there’s confirming data – that people are getting less care. This is a reduction experts have long agreed needn’t jeopardize health status (in fact, there’s long been a broad consensus that Medicare costs and services could be reduced by at least 20% without compromising care although there’s inevitably less agreement on precisely which cuts to make).</p> <p> </p> <p>Less care means fewer hospital days (hospitalization has been declining for decades) and fewer jobs in the health sphere, a sector that is the largest employer in many of America’s older cities and a major provider of good jobs at good wages for workers with modest educational attainments.  During the recent Great Recession, health was one of the few areas of steady employment.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/mediumhealthcareobama_1.jpg" style="height:363px; width:650px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>It is hard to believe that the health spending problem may be close to resolution – and indeed it may not be. We’ve had false Springs in the past, most notably in the 1990s when costs moderated in response to the threat of Clinton health reforms and the wary introduction of managed care.  They later made up for lost time.</p> <p> </p> <p>On the other hand, it is important to bring a sense of balance to current budget debates by recalling that the nation’s budget was not only balanced at the turn of the century, but creating a big enough surplus to fuel <a href="http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/new/html/Fri_Dec_29_151111_2000.html">suggestions</a> that the entire debt be retired within a decade.  Sadly that didn’t happen, but an acknowledgement that it could have serves as a reminder of how quickly things can turn around and seemingly intractable problems be resolved. </p> <div> <hr /></div> <p><em><strong>Author Bio:</strong></em></p> <p><em>For 16 years, Jim Jaffe  worked for House Democrats who served on the Ways and Means Committee, apprenticing with Representatives Green, Gibbons and Gephardt before working for Chairman Dan Rostenkowski.</em></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>From PunditWire.com</strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health-care" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health care</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/affordable-care-act" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Affordable Care Act</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/medicare" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">medicare</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obamacare" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Obamacare</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/republicans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Republicans</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/democrats" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Democrats</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/us-government-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">us government</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health-insurance" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health insurance</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health-spending" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health spending</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health-problems" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health problems</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Jim Jaffe </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Fri, 18 Apr 2014 14:25:32 +0000 tara 4609 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/3918-good-news-about-healthcare-costs#comments More African-Americans Have Health Insurance Because of Obamacare https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/3898-more-african-americans-have-health-insurance-because-obamacare <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Thu, 04/10/2014 - 10:48</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumhealthcareobama_1.jpg?itok=pyUwmCR3"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumhealthcareobama_1.jpg?itok=pyUwmCR3" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>From <a href="http://www.thenorthstarnews.com/">NorthStar News and Analysis</a> and our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2014/04/more-blacks-have-health-insurance-because-of-aca.php">New America Media</a>:</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>The number of African Americans who lacked health insurance dropped dramatically in 2014's first quarter compared to 2013's fourth quarter thanks to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which Republicans threaten to repeal if they win control of both houses of Congress in November's national elections.</p> <p> </p> <p>The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index reported on Monday that the uninsured rate for African Americans fell from 20.9 percent in 2013's fourth quarter to 17.6 percent in 2014's first quarter, a drop of 3.3 percentage points.</p> <p> </p> <p>When Open Enrollment began on October 1, 2013, 6.8 million African Americans lacked health insurance, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.</p> <p> </p> <p>Blacks reported the highest drop among ethnic and racial groups. The percentage of uninsured whites declined from 11.9 percent in the fourth quarter to 10.7 percent in the first quarter, a drop of 1.2 percentage points.</p> <p> </p> <p>As for Hispanics, the percentage of uninsured was 38.7 percent in 2013's fourth quarter compared to 37.0 percent in 2014's first quarter, down 1.7 percentage points.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/mediumhealthcarereform_1.jpg" style="height:279px; width:500px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>President Barack Obama announced on April 1 that 7.1 million Americans had signed up for health insurance plans through federal and state-run marketplaces by the March 31 deadline.</p> <p> </p> <p>Gallup-Healthways reported that the overall uninsured rate dipped to 15.6 percent in 2014's first quarter, a decline of 1.5 percentage points compared to 17.1 percent in 2013's fourth quarter.</p> <p> </p> <p>The overall decline in the uninsured is the lowest since late 2008.</p> <p> </p> <p>Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index reached its results by conducting more than 43,500 interviews with U.S. adults from Jan. 2, 2014 to March 31, 2014.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obamacare" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Obamacare</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/affordable-care-act" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Affordable Care Act</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health-insurance" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health insurance</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health-issues" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health issues</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/doctors" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">doctors</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obama" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Obama</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/democrats" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Democrats</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/republicans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Republicans</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health-law" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health law</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">NorthStar News &amp; Analysis</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Thu, 10 Apr 2014 14:48:48 +0000 tara 4574 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/3898-more-african-americans-have-health-insurance-because-obamacare#comments Many Americans Are Unaware of Healthcare Law Deadline https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/3865-many-americans-are-unaware-healthcare-law-deadline <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 03/31/2014 - 11:15</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1healthcaredeadline.jpg?itok=CHBXq0ob"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1healthcaredeadline.jpg?itok=CHBXq0ob" width="480" height="269" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>From <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/03/26/many-americans-unaware-of-approaching-health-care-law-deadline/">Pew Research Center</a> and our content partner New America Media:</p> <p> </p> <p>With a Monday deadline looming for uninsured Americans to sign up for health care coverage, the Obama administration recently announced it would give more time to those who had tried to enroll in a plan through the federal insurance marketplace, but were unable to complete the process. However, many uninsured had not known the deadline was upon them and about half said they would remain uninsured, according to a Kaiser Health Tracking poll conducted March 11-17.</p> <p> </p> <p>Under the healthcare law, those who do not obtain coverage for 2014 face financial penalties of up to 1 percent of their yearly household income, or $95 a person, whichever amount is higher, although even before the deadline extension was announced, there was an array of exemptions for hardships and other reasons.</p> <p> </p> <p>While most Americans know that the law includes fines for those who do not buy coverage, Kaiser found that just 39 percent of the uninsured were aware of the Monday deadline. About four-in-ten (43 percent) said they didn’t know the deadline (or refused to answer), 13 percent believed it was sometime after March and 5 percent were under the impression it had already passed.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Uninsured unaware of ACA sign-up deadline</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>When those surveyed were reminded that they could be fined for not obtaining coverage, half said they would remain uninsured while 40 percent said they intended to get coverage.</p> <p> </p> <p>About two-thirds (67 percent) of the uninsured said they have not tried to get insurance for themselves in the last six months compared with 33 percent who said they did.</p> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/mediumhealthcareobama_0.jpg" style="height:363px; width:650px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>The requirement to obtain coverage or be fined remains an unpopular element of the law: 64 percent of the public has a somewhat or very unfavorable view of it compared with 35 pecent who see it positively.</p> <p> </p> <p>Kaiser found the public’s view of the law overall remained negative, but reported the gap has narrowed to 8 points, compared with a recent high of 16 points in November and January. Currently, 46 percent of Americans have an unfavorable view of the law compared with 38 percent who see it positively. A Pew Research Center survey conducted Feb. 27-March 16 found the public disapproved of the law by a 53 percent to 41 percent margin.</p> <p> </p> <p>One other finding from Kaiser: Many Americans appear to be getting tired of the debate over the law four years after its enactment. Just over half (53 percent) expressed that view and said they wanted the country to move on to other issues while 42 percent believed it was important for the debate to continue.</p> <p> </p> <p><a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/03/26/many-americans-unaware-of-approaching-health-care-law-deadline/">Pew Research Center</a></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obamacare" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Obamacare</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health-care-law" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health care law</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/affordable-care-act" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Affordable Care Act</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health-insurance" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health insurance</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/marketplace" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">marketplace</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health-issues" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health issues</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/buying-health-insurance" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">buying health insurance</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/march-31-deadline" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">march 31 deadline</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/doctors" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">doctors</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Pew Research Center</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 31 Mar 2014 15:15:54 +0000 tara 4516 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/3865-many-americans-are-unaware-healthcare-law-deadline#comments Cell Phone Initiative Helps Latinas Battle Health Issues https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/3834-cell-phone-initiative-helps-latinas-battle-health-issues <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 10:01</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/3cellphone%20%28Colorlines%29.jpg?itok=HvClPDRq"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/3cellphone%20%28Colorlines%29.jpg?itok=HvClPDRq" width="480" height="313" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><em>From <a href="http://colorlines.com/archives/2014/03/can_cell_phones_improve_womens_health.html">Colorlines</a> and our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2014/03/can-cell-phones-improve-latinas-health.php">New America Media</a>: </em></p> <p> </p> <p><em>“Remember that your legal status does not matter. If your children are citizens, they can use public services like MediCal without affecting your residency process.”</em></p> <p><em>“Instead of junk food, choose a healthy meal from your country. Eat cactus, chia seed or verdolagas to take advantage of all their benefits.”</em></p> <p>“Nobody wants to get involved in problems, but if a friend’s husband hits her, tell her there is a way out. Give her the Marjaree Mason Center number, <a href="tel:559-237-4706" target="_blank">559-237-4706</a>.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Every few days, text messages like these pop up on the phones of more than 1,000 women in Fresno County, in California’s Central Valley. The messages come in Spanish, alternately offering referrals for affordable healthcare and domestic violence services, legal tips and affirmations. Any resource offered via text has been vetted by a team of women behind the project, called Únete Latina, to confirm that providers there speak Spanish and won’t ask for a Social Security number.</p> <p>Those are the conditions Latina immigrant women in Fresno need in order to feel safe taking care of their own and family members’ health, according to Alejandra Olguin. Since late last year, Olguin has led the project as a staffer at Youth Tech Health (YTH), an Oakland, Calif.-based organization that uses technology to educate young people about health. Long before setting up Únete Latina’s text blasts and mobile website, YTH showed up at free legal clinics where people learned how to apply for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and surveyed hundreds of women there as they waited for counsel related to immigration questions. The results pointed to the barriers of isolation and intimidation the project’s organizers would have to overcome.</p> <p>“Immigrant women experience a palpable fear every single day,” Olguin told me via email from Oaxaca, Mexico. “Whether it’s driving their children to school without a license or being asked for their Social Security number at a clinic, there’s fear about being involved in anything that seems ‘official,’ including our text messaging program.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Immigrants comprise nearly <a href="http://csii.usc.edu/documents/FRESNO_web.pdf" target="_blank">a quarter</a> of Fresno’s population and two-thirds of those born outside the U.S. have come there from Mexico, drawn in part by agricultural jobs in this largely rural county. Nearly 40 percent of Latino immigrant adults in the county are undocumented.</p> <p> </p> <p>Despite the skepticism someone might have around texting the word “unete” (which means “join us”) to a short code, women have signed up since the launch late last year. They’ve been encouraged by the dozen Fresno residents who have worked with Olguin and San Francisco’s Immigrant Legal Resource Center to design and run the project. But they’re also drawn by the low barrier to entry. One clear message that came out of the surveys YTH conducted was that the best way to reach people is through their cell phones.</p> <p>Nationwide, Latinos have <a href="http://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1044&amp;context=sppworkingpapers" target="_blank">lower rates</a> of access to broadband Internet at home than other racial and ethnic groups, and California is no exception. Just over half of Latinos in the state use broadband, compared to 71 percent of blacks, 75 percent of Asians and 81 percent of whites, according to the <a href="http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/jtf/JTF_DigitalDivideJTF.pdf" target="_blank">Public Policy Institute of California</a>. Using a computer to get online is a particular challenge in the Central Valley. Just 60 percent of the region’s residents have broadband access at home, compared to 80 percent of Bay Area residents, 77 percent in Orange County and San Diego and 64 percent in Los Angeles.</p> <p> </p> <p>Sasha Costanza-Chock, an assistant professor of civic media at MIT, is part of a growing movement of organizers and activists addressing this divide in digital access. In 2006, he began working with day laborers in Los Angeles and the Institute of Popular Education of Southern California to develop a cell phone-based journalism tool called VozMob (Mobile Voices/Voces Movíles).</p> <p> </p> <p>“For low-income folks, particularly first-generation immigrants and especially Spanish-speaking recent immigrants from Mexico and Central America, their primary means of communication access is through a mobile device, and not necessarily an Internet-enabled one,” Costanza-Chock said.</p> <p> </p> <p>YTH’s research in Fresno bears this out. Seventy percent of the women surveyed said they had access to the Web on their phones and a data plan, compared to 90 percent who said they use text messaging. Cost plays a role as well: 84 percent said they had an unlimited texting plan, compared to just half who had an unlimited data plan.</p> <p> </p> <p>The design of Únete Latina’s <a href="http://unetelatina.org/" target="_blank">website</a> makes it easy to search for health and legal services on a phone, but the texts—including the uplifting messages sprinkled among them—help build the rapport and trust needed to draw women to the resources. “It’s like these text messages come right at the moment you need them most,” one undocumented woman told YTH in a focus group. Another said, “I like the text messages that remind us that we are important, because if you don’t believe that you will just stay in your fear.” Four out of five women who received the texts say they intend to use the resources as well, according to Jamia Wilson, YTH’s executive director.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2mediumhealthcare.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p>The sensitivity with which texts are written is also part of Únete Latina’s strategy to address <a href="http://www.fresnostate.edu/studentaffairs/vpp/domesticviolence/dvstatistics.html" target="_blank">high rates</a> of intimate partner violence in the county. All of the 250 women YTH surveyed said they knew someone who experienced domestic violence. Experts <a href="http://www.rwjf.org/content/dam/farm/reports/reports/2009/rwjf38645" target="_blank">have found</a> that intimate partner violence is no more common in immigrant communities than among other groups, but getting help can be especially hard for women in Fresno.</p> <p> </p> <p>“Undocumented women in particular are more vulnerable because of their immigration status,” said Kimberly Inez McGuire, director of public affairs at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH). “Abusers will often use a woman’s status against her as a tool of control and intimidation.”</p> <p>The threat of being exposed to immigration officials, potential loss of a partner and co-parent to deportation and financial dependence are among the reasons women may stay in an abusive situation, says McGuire, whose organization lobbied to include provisions protecting immigrant survivors of domestic violence as part of the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act last year. </p> <p> </p> <p>Únete Latina’s approach has been to craft culturally relevant messages that will resonate with recipients, Olguin of YTH said via email. “Instead of asking, ‘Are you a victim of domestic violence? Call this number,’ we would say, ‘Did your husband drink too much over the weekend? You are not alone. There is an organization that can help you. Call this number. They speak Spanish and do not ask for your Social Security number.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Wilson, YTH’s director, said the organization intends to expand the project into other parts of California, where <a href="http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/acs-22.pdf" target="_blank">a quarter</a> of residents either don’t speak English well or at all, according to Census data.</p> <p> </p> <p>“Even for Latinas who live in urban areas where there’s less isolation, language is a huge barrier,” said McGuire of NLIRH. “The likelihood of finding a provider who’s culturally competent, linguistically competent and with whom someone’s comfortable—It’s a tall order and many Latinas can’t find that.”</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p><em>Dani McClain’s  reporting on reproductive health and sexuality is supported by the Nation Institute.</em></p> <p> </p> <p><em>From <a href="http://colorlines.com/archives/2014/03/can_cell_phones_improve_womens_health.html">Colorlines</a></em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health-care" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health care</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/latinas" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Latinas</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health-care-immigrants" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health care for immigrants</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/cell-phones" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">cell phones</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/medcal" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">medcal</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health-insurance" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health insurance</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health-problems" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health problems</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/disease" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">disease</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/domestic-abuse" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">domestic abuse</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/hispanic-immigrants" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Hispanic immigrants</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Dani McClain</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Colorlines; Flickr</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Wed, 19 Mar 2014 14:01:26 +0000 tara 4459 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/3834-cell-phone-initiative-helps-latinas-battle-health-issues#comments