Health Reform

What Is At Stake For Vietnamese Communities If The Affordable Care Act Is Struck Down?

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by Quynh Chi Nguyen. This article originally appeared on Community Catalyst’s Health Policy Hub blog.

Every year on April 30, many Vietnamese living across the globe commemorate what they term the end of the Vietnamese war (also known as the American war in Vietnam). Whatever side we were on, the war and its aftermath forever remain painful and frightening and continue to affect the health and wellbeing of the Vietnamese population.

After the war, my family and I joined over a million other Vietnamese immigrants who made the journey to reside in the.... Read More

             

What Matters? Don’t Let Health Care Get in the Way

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by Dr. Terry Fulmer, President, The John A. Hartford Foundation. This article originally appeared on Next Avenue.

When it comes to health care, what matters varies from person to person and differs depending on your state of health or illness. For one person, it might mean feeling well enough to care for an active young grandchild three days a week. For another person nearing the end of life, it might mean alleviating pain or being lucid enough to have one more conversation.

However, when we near death or become seriously ill.... Read More

             

What’s At Stake In Trump Promise To Roll Back ACA Nondiscrimination Rule?

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by Lois Uttley. This article originally appeared on the Community Catalyst blog.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes a groundbreaking nondiscrimination provision known as Section 1557, or the “Health Care Rights Law,” which serves as the first federal law to prohibit sex discrimination in health care. Section 1557 is critical to protecting women and LGBTQ individuals from discrimination in health care. Unfortunately, Section 1557 is not immune from ongoing efforts to sabotage the ACA: The Trump Administration indicated that it intends to roll back or repeal parts of the rule that the Obama administration issued in 2016 implementing Section 1557.

What is Section 1557 and how did the Obama rule interpret it?

Section 1557 of the ACA.... Read More

             

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

             
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