While the ACA, when fully implemented, aims to expand insurance coverage to 27 million previously uninsured Americans, it does not offer health insurance to illegal immigrants. However, the immigrant communities that may not purchase the newly-available health insurance are not all illegal immigrants.
Researchers at UC Berkeley and UCLA estimate that three-quarters of the remaining uninsured population after Covered California takes effect, will be U.S. Citizens, or lawfully present immigrants.
As
KQED's The California Report broadcasted this morning, selling healthcare reform to the nation's immigrant communities may prove difficult. Apparently the health insurance applications through Covered California, the state's health insurance exchange website, are only available in English and Spanish. Because the first open enrollment period begins October 1, 2013, there is likely not enough time to expand applications to more languages this time around. This marketing hole will likely serve to alienate large groups of non-English speaking communities because of language barriers, such as the neighborhood of Little Saigon in Orange County - home to one of the state's largest Vietnamese populations.
Many immigrant community organizers have received grants from Covered California to expand outreach efforts to non-English speaking communities, including over a dozen organizations that will reach the state's Asian populations. These efforts must include education about basic insurance terms, such as
co-pay and
deductible, as well as assurances that the ACA is not a scam to take their money. Many Asian immigrant communities, KQED reported, have a heightened sensitivity to such scams and may be extremely wary of organizations touting "Cheap Health Insurance."
California's massive marketing campaign to enroll all eligible Californians is set to kick off next month.
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