June's Monthly Health Update

Health Ambassadors

If you are involved with health work in your community, you would be a great candidate for the LULAC Health Ambassadorship. Furthermore, you would be notified first of available grant opportunities!. Sign up today!

Men’s Health Week.

Last week was Men’s Health Week! Here are some steps you or a man you love can take to make your life healthier:

• Focus on the Power of Prevention! Latino men are less likely than their white peers to see a doctor regularly, get flu shots or undergo colonoscopies. In general, men are nearly 25% less likely than women to have seen a doctor in the last year.
• Heart disease is the number 1 killer of men. Renew your commitment to eating healthy this month by making half of your plate fruits and vegetables.
• Work towards getting regular physical exercise. Just 2 ½ hours of exercise a week can make a big difference.

Click on the video below to watch a great video featuring several of our partners discussing how men can take steps to better their health this year.

Health Advocacy

LULAC Supports EPA Plan to Cut Carbon Pollution from Existing Power Plants

LULAC fully supports the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to cut carbon pollution from America’s power plants. In the United States, 50% of Latinos live in areas where the air quality does not meet EPA's health standard. Furthermore, Latinos are 30 % more likely to visit a hospital for asthma related attacks.

In her remarks, LULAC National President Margaret Moran noted that recent survey results how that 9/10 Latinos support actions that combat climate change and applauded EPAs actions.

Brent Wilkes, LULAC Executive Director had the following to say:“Given the types of occupations where Latinos are over represented including agriculture, construction, and landscaping, Latino workers are at increased risk of exposure to dirty air and the increased temperatures exacerbated by global warming, which carbon pollution drives.” “We are delighted that the Obama administration has listened to our concerns and developed a set of common sense policies that will finally motivate the power plant industry to clean up their act.”

See the full press release here.
To view some LULAC factsheets on the relationship between air pollution and asthma click here.

Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010 Seeing Results

LULAC supported the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, as it promised to address childhood obesity, an issue that is disproportionately affecting Latino children. Now, thanks to the Act, school meals have changed for the better as students across America are being served meals with more fruits, vegetables, whole-grains, lean protein and low-fat dairy.

In just one year:

• 91% of schools report that they are meeting the updated standards.
• Breakfast participation has increased by 600,000 students. This is a good sign as students who eat breakfast tend to have higher test scores and miss fewer days of school.
• Kids are now eating up to 16% more vegetables and 23% more fruits at lunch.
• 44% are participating in farm to school programs that provide fresh, locally grown produce to students.

Let’s continue to work together to ensure a healthier younger generation. For more information visit: www.usda.gov/healthierschoolday.

Health Programs

Join us at the LULAC National Convention and Exhibition in New York City from July 8th through the 12th. LULAC's health team will be hosting a free cooking demonstration and zumba instruction. We hope to see you there!

The Affordable Care Act

The ACA has drastically cut the Uninsured Rate for Latinos

A recent survey found Obamacare is most helping some of the very people it was designed to help: blacks, Hispanics and low-income Americans.

The Hispanic uninsured rate fell 5.6% between the end of 2013 and May 2014. The uninsured rate is still higher for Hispanics with 33.1% of Hispanics remaining uninsured. Nationally, that rate of uninsurance is 13.4%, according to Gallup, down from 17.1 percent at the end of last year.br>
Another notable drop was seen in the uninsured rate for households earning less than $36,000 annually. That percentage fell to 24.7 percent, down 6 points from the end of 2013 -- but still much higher than the national rate. Overall, the percentage of Americans who lack insurance is at its lowest since 2008, when Gallup started tracking this data.

Read the full article at the Washington Post.

Special Enrollment Periods: Are you Eligible?

CMS recently released a new tool to help you easily determine your eligibility for a special enrollment period.

The interactive tool, which can be found at https://www.healthcare.gov/screener/, will ask a series of simple questions to determine if you have experieced a qualifying life event.

Watch the video below which walks you through the Special Enrollment Period.

In general qualifying life events include:

• No longer being covered by your parents’ plan
• Changing your place of residence outside of the service area of your current plan
• Becoming pregnant. having a baby, adopting a child or placing a child for adoption
• Gain or lose a dependent
• Getting married or divorced
• Losing your other health insurance
• Gaining status as a member of an Indian tribe
• Gaining citizenship
• Leaving incarceration
• A change in income
• Gaining health coverage through a job or a program like
• Medicare or Medicaid
• Having a change in disability status
• Experiencing other changes that may affect your income and household size

Other life changes or situations may also make you eligible, but your situation must be determined on a case by case basis.

You have 60 days from the qualifying life event to enroll in coverage. Notify the marketplace of your life event as soon as possible by phone (1-800-318-2596) or online through your account. DO NOT report changes by mail.

For more information see the Marketplace factsheets below:

• HealthCare.gov: Report Life changes
• HealthCare.gov: Getting coverage outside Open Enrollment
• HealthCare.gov Blog: Open Enrollment is over: Here are some options