November Health News
Health Ambassadors
Health Ambassador Highlight
LULAC Youth Council #702 in Stockton, California helped make Thanksgiving food baskets last week. Through this "Stuff the Bus" campaign, these LULAC youth and the San Joaquin Regional Transit District are helping address hunger in San Joaquin County.
Check out the council's full photo album on Facebook.
LULAC Youth Councils across the country are collecting pledges to End Hunger. The competition ends on November 21, 2014. For more information on how to get involved and potentially win $1,000 for your council visit. www.lulac.org/dennys.
Affordable Care Act
The Marketplace is OPEN!
For more information about the 2014-2015 Open Enrollment Period, visit our Affordable Care Act webpage.
By Rep. Henry Cuellar, Guest Commentary : November 4, 2014
Earlier this month, Congressman Cuellar who represenets the 28th District of Texas in the House of Texas released a guest commentary on mysantonio.com. Below are some excerpts. Click here to read the whole article.
The area of Texas I represent has some of the highest rates of people without health insurance in the country. Having affordable healthcare coverage provides peace of mind that an illness will not derail your family's financial well-being.
… A new report illustrates the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is working not only for people across the United States, but right here at home in Texas Congressional District 28. Because of the law, health-care spending has been growing at the lowest rate for decades.
Millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied health-care coverage by insurance companies. Women can no longer be charged higher premiums just because they are women.
… All combined, in just one year, the number of uninsured adults in the country has been reduced by 26 percent. In addition, because of the ACA, Americans will never be sold health insurance policies that disappear when they need coverage most. Americans with private health insurance are getting preventive services such as vaccines, cancer screenings, and yearly wellness visits for free.
The law is not perfect, and I have voted multiple times in Congress to make commonsense changes to improve it. But the fact remains that we cannot go back to the old system where insurance companies could dictate terms affecting the most personal areas of our life — our health care and financial well-being. This law is really about family values: making sure children and their parents can get preventive care that they can afford.
The Marketplace is Working
HHS Secretary Burwell made an appearance on a webcast with Latina bloggers, including Elianne Ramos. During the webcast, Burwell criticized flaws in the country’s immigration system that prevent immigrants who came to the country illegally as children, also known as DREAMers, from getting medical coverage as adults. “This is an issue that is more than a healthcare issue. It is an immigration issue,” Burwell said in response to a question to Latina activist and blogger Elianne Ramos. “This administration feels incredibly strongly that we need to fix that. We need to reform the system and make the changes that we need that will lead to benefits in everything from healthcare to economics,” Burwell said.
Read a recap of the webcast on The Hill or watch the full webcast below.
Advocacy
151,000 Pounds of Protein Served in Five Major Cities
During the month of October, Tyson Foods, Inc. and LULAC donated more than 151,000 pounds of chicken to food banks in Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Houston, and Washington, D.C. The organizations held community events that provided 30,000 pounds of protein as well as vegetables, fruit, rice, bread, juice, and water to people in need. Additional resources and supplies, which included legal advice, health services, toiletries, and clothing, were also available and varied by site.
This donation is part of a 1 million pound, three-year commitment between Tyson Foods and LULAC to fight hunger. The Tyson Foods contribution is significant because protein is the most requested but the least provided food source at local food banks.
LULAC and more than 100 National Organizations Call on Congress to Fix the Primary Care Cliff in the Lame Duck Session
In a letter sent to Congressional leaders, more than 100 leading national organizations joined together to call for immediate action to fix the Primary Care Cliff – a series of looming funding reductions and program eliminations that threaten access to care for millions of underserved patients. Organizations which signed the letter represent a broad coalition of stakeholders, including health care professionals, providers, businesses and officials; economic development entities; academic institutions; consumer advocates; and civil rights organizations. The letter urges Congress to act during the upcoming lame duck session to prevent the scheduled cuts to the Community Health Centers, National Health Service Corps and Teaching Health Centers programs. The Community Health Centers program provides high-quality, comprehensive, primary and preventive care services to over 23 million patients in more than 9,000 communities.
Without Congressional action Health Centers would see a cut of up to 70% to federal funding by the end of 2015. The NHSC and THCGME programs would be eliminated entirely.
Read the full letter here.