What the Health Law Means for the Latino Community

Across the country, more than 50 million Latinos are part of our communities, classrooms and workplaces. And thanks to the health care law, the Affordable Care Act, an estimated 5.4 million Latinos will gain insurance coverage by 2016 under the new law, according to an issue brief released by HHS today (go here to read it in Spanish). Just two years after it was passed, the health care law has already improved health outcomes and increased access to care for Latinos by:

Extending coverage to an estimated 736,000 Latino young adults under a provision that allows them to stay on their parents� health insurance until they turn 26,Expanding access to preventive services with no-cost sharing to an estimated 6.1 million Latino Americans with private insurance, andRequiring most health insurance plans to cover prevention and wellness services like cancer screenings, flu shots , and pap smears and mammograms for women, with no cost-sharing.

While 16.3 percent of Americans are currently uninsured, the percentage of Latinos without health insurance is even higher at 30.7 percent. As the law continues to be implemented:

Latinos of all income levels who would otherwise be uninsured will have access to health insurance through new Affordable Insurance Exchanges and as a result of expanded Medicaid coverage,Latino Americans suffering from a chronic disease�like the estimated 4.3 million Latino adults who are currently living with diabetes�will have access to new care innovations, like community health teams, that will help them manage their illness, andLatinos living in medically underserved areas will have access to new community health centers and preventive and primary care services.

To learn more about the impact of the Affordable Care Act on the health of the Latino community, join our Spanish-language Twitter chat today, April 10. You can join in the conversation starting at 2pm EST by following the #LaSaludLatina hashtag and at @HHSLatino.

You can read the issue brief in English here, and in Spanish here, For the fact sheet, visit this page.

6,000 Nurses Bring Robin Hood to Chicago

From National Nurses United –

More than 6,000 nurses and activists gathered at Daley Plaza in Chicago Friday to rock out with musician Tom Morello and call for a tax on financial speculation � a Robin Hood tax. This small sales tax on Wall Street trades could raise up to $350 billion a year in the U.S., money that American communities desperately need.

It’s time for Wall Street to start paying what all the rest of us pay,� Karen Higgins, RN, told a cheering crowd, many wearing red nurse scrubs and green Robin Hood caps. Higgins, who works as a registered nurse in Boston, is co-president of National Nurses United, the country�s largest registered nurses� union, which organized the rally.

As nurses, they see how the economy is hurting families and communities across the country. They understand the suffering Americans face every day � in healthcare, foreclosure, jobs, and education.

I’ve been a nurse for 38 years and I have never seen our communities in such disarray and in such suffering as I have in the last couple of years,� said Deborah Burger, RN, and NNU co-president. They got us into this mess and they have the money to bail us out.

Indeed they do — almost a quarter of the nation�s GDP � close to $4 trillion � sits in corporate coffers, the largest cash hoard in U.S. history.

We are here to protest all the people that are taking all the money out of our economy,� said Jean Ross, RN, and co-president of NNU. �We the 99 percent know what it�s about. We set an alarm. We work for a living. We don’t sit by a swimming pool and wait for our dividends to come in.

More than 100 organizations of community, environmental, labor, and health groups from around the world endorsed the event.

RoseAnn DeMoro, NNU�s executive director, thanked everyone for being there and gave a special shout-out to Occupy protesters.

�To all the community groups, the political groups, the non-profit groups that came out to support us — bless you,� DeMoro said. �It�s your voices that are going to make a difference in this country.

Also speaking at the rally was Tom Hayden, student activist during Chicago’s 1968 protests.

The rally ended with a performance by music legend Morello, who played with bands Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, and is also known for his acoustic music as The Nightwatchman.

It�s an honor to be here today in my hometown of Chicago with the nurses union. I want to thank them for standing up for free speech, for standing up for economic justice, and standing up for me,� he said.

Morello�s reference was to a standoff between the nurses and the City of Chicago over a permit to assemble in Daley Plaza. The city changed the permit last week that would move the rally away from downtown Chicago. After nurses and the community protested, the city caved and allowed the rally to go on at the plaza as planned.

Before the rally, nurses attended an international panel discussion on global austerity and ways to fight back, including the Robin Hood tax.

It�s so important we have a strong Robin Hood tax campaign,� said J�rn Kalinski, Oxfam Germany director of lobbying and campaigns. �We need America to come around on this issue.

In addition to Kalinski, other speakers included:

Mi Jung Han, RN, Vice President, Korean Health and Medical Workers Union (South Korea), David Hillman, Coordinator, Stamp Out Poverty (UK), Rosa Pavanelli, President, Funzione Pubblica CGIL (Italy) and Vice President, European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU), Linda Silas, RN, President, Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (Canada), and Brenda Cristina Morales, RN, Regional Coordinator, Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de Salud deGuatemala (SNTSG) (Guatemala) made presentations.