October Health News
LULAC Health Ambassadors
Agnes Rivera in Houston TX took part in two health events during the month of October. LULAC members joined several federal and state government agencies and community based organizations for Binational Health Week.
Affordable Care Act
Second Open Enrollment Period
The second Open Enrollment period will run from November 15, 2014 to February 15, 2015. If you do not already have coverage, or would like to switch your coverage provider, you may do so during this period.
If you are interested in changing your insurance provider, you will most likely find more options in the marketplace system as HHS has reported that there are now 25% more insurers in the 2015 marketplace. View the HHS Press Release here.
The renewal/redetermination system for 2015 has been finalized. If you do not have a change in status from last year (ie. Change in income, changed residence, change in citizenship status) you can opt to automatically reenroll into the same plan you are currently covered under without going through the application process again.
If you choose to change your plan or your insurance provider, or if your qualifying information has indeed changed, you will have to go through the application process again, but most of your personal information will be pre-filled in and all you will have to do is edit when necessary.
For more information on this policy, click here.
Upcoming Webinars:
Health Insurance Marketplace 101 webinar
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) invite you to join us for a webinar on the basics of the Health Insurance Marketplace. The webinar will provide an overview of the Affordable Care Act and key features of the Health Insurance Marketplace (Healthcare.gov), such as premium tax credits, cost-sharing reductions, eligibility requirements, renewal instructions, and special enrollment periods.
In addition, we will discuss how individuals and organizations can help during open enrollment by becoming a Certified Application Counselor (CAC) organization and Champion for Coverage. CACs are volunteers who assist people to enroll in the Health Insurance Marketplace. Champions for Coverage help by educating people in their community about the importance of getting covered and how to enroll.
When: Tuesday, November 4, 2014 at 3:00pm ET (12:00pm PT)
Participants can join the event directly by clicking here
Dial-in number: 1(888)-390-0973
Conference number: PW9314435
Audience passcode: OC114
No registration required. Please join us 5 minutes early.
For questions please email CMS at partnership@cms.hhs.gov
This webinar will be recorded and available for replay for 30 days here
Lo Que Significa la Ley de Salud para su Pequeña Empresa/ What the New Healthcare Law Means for Your Small Business
Acompáñenos a un webinar sobre la nueva Ley de Salud y lo que significa para pequeñas empresas. Nos enfocaremos en las dispociciones federales y estatales que afectan a las pequeñas empresas y para los que trabajan por su propia cuenta para saber cuales son las nuevas opciones de seguros de salud disponibles. Este evento se repetirá dos veces al mes.
Join us for a webinar on what the new healthcare law, The Affordable Care Act, means for small business. We will focus on both federal and state provisions to help local small business owners understand how the law will affect them. This event repeats bi-monthly.
Cuando: Martes, 4 de noviembre / When: Tuesday, November 4
La Hora: 4:00pm EST / Time: 1:00pm PST
Regístrese aquí / Register here
Cuando: Martes, 18 de noviembre / When: Tuesday, November 18
La Hora: 4:00pm EST / Time: 1:00pm PST
Regístrese aquí / Register here
Latinos Benefit the Most from the first year of the ACA:
Latinos benefited the mot from the ACA with nationwide, the percentage of Latinos ages 19 to 64 lacking health coverage fell from 36% to 23% (nearly three times the rate of the country overall) between the summer of 2013 and the spring of 2014. Overall uninsurance rates for US adults below the age of 65 fell 5%, from 20% to 15%.
Overall, there are 10.3 or 26% fewer uninsured adults in the United States after the ACA than before and since 2012 families have saved an average of $80 because of the ACA rule that insurance companies must spend at least 80% of premiums on care.
If you are in one of the 36 states participating in the Federal Marketplace and you are interested to see how insurance rates were impacted by zip code, HHS has released a handy tool that can accessed here.
Infographic courtesy of The Commonwealth Fund
Pennsylvania has Expanded Medicaid
Last month approximately 500,000 Pennsylvanians became eligible for health coverage thanks to Pennsylvania approving Medicare expansion. Pennsylvania is the 29th state in the Union to expand Medicaid, when including the District of Columbia.
The expansion of Medicaid is key to ensuring that Latino communities are connected to coverage. In fact, some studies show that the uninsured rate in states that did not expand Medicaid, like Texas and Florida, remained statistically unchanged.
Advocacy
2015 ACTober Advocacy Day
Join LULAC and the CDC in the CDC’s new campaign, “We Can Stop HIV One Conversation at a Time”
Join us in this call to action for the Latino community to talk about HIV and AIDS, increase awareness of HIV and AIDS, and decrease HIV-associated stigma and shame. Every conversation, no matter how small is important to reducing HIV/AIDS in the US.
Click here to find out more
WIC Celebrates 40 years of service to the Community:
This month, the Women, Infants and Children Program, commonly known as WIC celebrated its fortieth anniversary. WIC is a key program that improves the nutrition and health of our nation’s low-income mothers and young children.
Today, WIC provides nutrition education, healthy food, breastfeeding support, and healthcare referrals to nearly nine million low-income mothers and young children every month. Through WIC, the infant mortality rate has decreased significantly and pregnancy outcomes have improved and the program is considered one of the most successful, cost-effective and important nutrition intervention programs in the country.
More information about the WIC Program can be found at http://www.fns.usda.gov/WIC.
Senators come out to support strong policies to fight drug resistance
In a letter to the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) called for tougher action by the agency to end the overuse of antibiotics on farms. "The science is clear...continuing to overuse antibiotics on healthy animals will only speed up [resistance]," the senators wrote. Read more at the Wall Street Journal.
October 29th is World Stroke Day
Programs
Parents Projected to Spend $245,340 to Raise a Child Born in 2013, According to USDA Report
The USDA updated their Expenditures on Children and Families report last month and found that raising a child born in 2013 is expected to cost parents over $245,000. Urban Northeast parents should expect to pay the most while their counterparts in urban South and nationwide rural regions are expected to pay the least.
If you are planning ahead, for middle-income families, housing costs are the single largest expenditure, averaging 30% of the total cost of raising a child. Child care and education was the second largest expense at 18%, followed by food, which accounted for 16%.
Click here to use the USDAs interactive calculator to determine costs in your area.
Youth Councils come out in Support of Hunger Awareness
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Dallas, Texas, LULAC youth wrote essays where they provided personal solutions to hunger in their community. Ideas included hosting a garage sale to raise funds for a local food bank and planting a community garden, which not only provides food but also offers the opportunity for family bonding.
Students learned that the Dallas food insecurity rate affects 450,210 people (19%) and in Milwaukee, food insecurity affects 942,006 people (19%).
Students then learned about programs and legislation that curtail the impact of hunger, like the free and reduced lunch program and the Summer Feeding program, WIC and SNAP.
Partnerships
LULAC signs MOU with American Red Cross
In an unprecedented act of collaboration, LULAC and the Red Cross entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU). The MOU provides a framework through which the two organizations will work together to establish prepared communities, plan for disaster responses, and provide mutual assistance to communities across the country.
EPA MOU Signing
This month, LULAC National Executive Director Brent Wilkes and Gina McCarthy, Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) formalizing and expanding their partnership and collaboration. The partnership focuses on increasing public education on the environmental health impacts of climate change; assisting families in evaluating and reducing environmental health risks to children; and increasing awareness and interest in the EPA’s training and employment opportunities.
Scientific studies show that minority children who live, learn, and play in low-income communities are at a greater risk of environmental health problems such as asthma, lead poisoning and pesticides exposure among others. Today, over 3.6 million Latinos in the U.S. are living with asthma, including one in every ten Latino children. Through this expanded partnership LULAC and the EPA will work together to increase environmental health outreach and education efforts with the goal of reducing our children's exposure to toxics in the environment. In addition, the EPA will provide information, advice, and assistance, to the extent authorized by applicable laws, regulations, and Agency policies, in order to attract high quality candidates for positions at the EPA. As a result, EPA employment opportunities, public service benefits, and training opportunities may be shared through LULAC’s outreach channels.
“Expanding the channels of communication between the EPA and LULAC is a key part of LULAC’s effort to protect our community from environmental hazards,” said LULAC National Executive Director, Brent Wilkes. “Our recent signing of the MOU underscores the strong and growing relationship between LULAC and the EPA.”