Resolution on Endorsement of the Latino HealthCare Forum (LHCF) Recommendations for the Navigator Program in Travis County, Texas and Central Texas

WHEREAS, 84 years ago, the founders of the League of Latin American Citizens, (LULAC) joined together to establish an organization that would become the largest, oldest and successful Hispanic civil rights and service organization in the United States, and

WHEREAS, the Latino HealthCare Forum has focused its efforts on reducing and eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities through the following goals:
• Support the transformation of healthcare and build a high-value healthcare system which requires insuring the uninsured, making coverage more secure the insured, and improving quality of care for all;
• Support and strengthen the nation’s healthcare infrastructure and workforce by addressing the critical shortage of primary care physicians, nurses, behavioral health providers, long term workers, and community health workers;
• Advance the health, safety, and well-being of American racial and ethnic minorities who fare worse than their non-Latino counterparts across a broad range of health indicators; and
• Increase the efficiency, transparency and accountability of public healthcare programs, and

WHEREAS, the Latino HealthCare Forum has proven to be the most effective voice in advocating for those changes at all levels that improve the health of Latinos and promote and advocate for the appropriate systemic policies necessary for culturally competent programming, development of culturally competent practices, and the implementation of culturally competent leadership and staff for all entities impacting the healthcare industry, and

WHEREAS, Texas has the highest uninsured rate in the country where 28.8% of adult Texans lacked healthcare coverage in 2012, and

WHEREAS, health insurance exchanges mandated by the Affordable Care Act will create an online marketplace where individuals can purchase health insurance coverage and,

WHEREAS, a major determinant of the success of the online marketplace is whether people will enroll in the exchange and according to a recent poll, ninety percent of Americans don’t know insurance exchanges are opening this fall and millions of those eligible don’t speak English well, and 5.4 million Latinos who would otherwise be uninsured will gain coverage by 2016, and

WHEREAS, each exchange is required to establish a ‘Navigator” program, which will award grants to navigators who educate and enroll individuals or small businesses in exchange plans and these navigators will mainly help people find and keep private insurance coverage and will play an essential role in helping individuals and families address their health care needs with the right health plan and educate people about their health plan options, and

WHEREAS, research has shown that people who enroll in the insurance exchange are more apt to do so if they are enrolled by people they trust, and

WHEREAS, the Latino HealthCare Forum has shown itself to be a “trusted” and highly competent nonprofit organization engaged in working to improve health access to Latinos and other medically underserved populations in a manner that is culturally and linguistically appropriate to the needs of the population being served by the exchanges, and

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that LULAC unanimously supports the recommendation that the Latino HealthCare Forum be selected as the “Navigator” for Central Texas.

Approved this 22nd day of June 2013.

Margaret Moran
LULAC National President