Health Reform

Winning Strategies: Organizing Consumers for Delivery Reform

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by Jessie Zimmerer. This post originally appeared on the Center for Community Engagement in Health Innovation blog.

If health care advocacy were a sport, there’d be no question about our defensive strategy. Much of our collective efforts over the last few years have centered around defeating threats to Medicaid and Medicare, and protecting the Affordable Care Act. Defense is crucial; defense is where games are lost. And defense is exciting. There’s a palpable urgency in the crunch to defend needed programs that piques the interest of otherwise passive spectators, and as our state partners have seen,.... Read More

             

Southeast Asian Americans Speak Out to Protect Affordable Healthcare

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For many Southeast Asian Americans, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal fight last year felt personal.

When the ACA was first passed, uninsured rates in Cambodian, Hmong, Lao, and Vietnamese American communities were high. Compared to the 15% of Americans overall who did not have health insurance in 2011, 20% of Cambodian, 20% of Vietnamese, 19% of Laotian, and 16% of Hmong Americans were uninsured. Too many families used emergency rooms as last-resort healthcare providers or went for years without regular check-ups.

Only four years later in 2015, the uninsured rate was cut in half. Thousands of families were finally accessing the preventative and life-saving care that they needed. Some accessed care through the healthcare exchange, supported by subsidies to.... Read More

             

New to HealthCare.gov? Three things you should know

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This post originally appeared on the HealthCare.gov blog.

If you haven’t applied for insurance on HealthCare.gov before, here are three things to know about the Health Insurance Marketplace:

Open Enrollment for 2018 health insurance runs from November 1 through December 15, 2017. Plans joined during Open Enrollment start January 1, 2018. There are a few things you can do now to get ready. See if your income is in the range to save before you apply. Select your household size and state to see if you may qualify for savings. Marketplace plans must cover a.... Read More
             

The Incredible Disappearing Affordable Care Act

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Well, September has officially passed. The Republican attempt to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has officially sunsetted. Hallelujah.

…right?

My fleeting sigh of relief was almost immediately replaced with concern over the death-by-a-million-paper-cuts approach to ending affordable healthcare access, the latest being #45’s decision to eliminate health-care subsidies — not to mention continued Republican rhetoric to try again in, oh, I don’t know, maybe January or February.

My mother-in-law is in her last — who knows how long she has. And her remaining days, which could and should be carefree, are instead filled with anxiety about how her middle-aged daughter will afford health care. Not whether her daughter can afford pretty golden baubles. Not.... Read More

             

Open Enrollment Season is Right Around the Corner – Are You Ready to #GetCovered?

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This past week, I flipped my calendar from August to September, and I started thinking about pumpkins and sweet potatoes, hot chocolate, leaves changing color – and open enrollment for health insurance! This time of year is vitally important to diverse elders, because both Medicare and the Affordable Care Act have had a profound impact on our ability to age with health and dignity. Read on for more information and key dates around healthcare open enrollment, and make sure you’re ready to #GetCovered!

Medicare Open Enrollment
October 15 – December 7, 2017

Medicare has a huge impact on diverse elders’ ability to get care. Various studies have found that

46% of Latino older adults
43% of Asian.... Read More

             

Older Adults & the ACA Health Insurance Marketplace: What’s at Stake for 2018

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by Natalie Kean. This post originally appeared on the Justice in Aging blog.

Among its many achievements, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has made great strides in covering more older adults who previously had no access to health care. Before the ACA, many low-income older adults who did not have employer-based coverage had no affordable coverage options to address their growing health care needs prior to becoming eligible for Medicare. Insurance companies were allowed to effectively price lower-income older adults out of the individual market or deny them coverage altogether based on pre-existing conditions. These insurance practices posed.... Read More

             

Statement of the #CaringMajority

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People across our country are enjoying longer lives. In fact, 10,000 people are turning 65 every day. This is great news for all of us, as we have longer to enjoy the intergenerational relationships that make our families stronger. However, it provides a challenge for our caregiving infrastructure.

These demographic shifts are putting an increased demand on our families, our finances, and on our care system in ways we didn’t anticipate. With some forethought, investment and planning, we can prepare for them. Instead of preparing for the future, though, we’re facing unprecedented attacks on the care we already have. Republicans in Congress are trying to take us back decades right when we need to provide more care, not less.

In.... Read More

             

ACA Repeal Would Send Native American Uninsured Rate Soaring

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by Jim McLean

The number of Native Americans without health insurance would increase sharply if Republicans in Congress succeed in repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, according to a new report.

The report, from the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, says that proposed cuts to Medicaid and to the subsidies that reduce out-of-pockets costs for low-income individuals purchasing private insurance in the ACA marketplace would jeopardize the coverage of more than 300,000 Native Americans and Alaska Natives.

The uninsured rate among Native Americans would climb by 27.4 percent in Kansas and 36.2 percent in Missouri, according to the report. Kansas is home to approximately 60,000 people who self-identify as either.... Read More

             
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