Healthcare Home | APA Health Disparities

For Seniors who have Medicare prescription drug coverage, Medicare will automatically send you a tax-free one time $250 rebate check after you reach the coverage gap (also called the “donut hole”) starting mid-June of 2010. Seniors should not disclose any personal information like Social Security and bank account numbers if they receive a call about the $250 rebate check.

If Seniors do not receive their rebate checks by the end of the year, they can call 1-800-325-0778 to ensure that their information has been sent to Medicare. In response to this new policy, the National Asian Pacific Center on Aging has added temporary staff to handle calls, and is available for those who have questions about the $250 rebate checks. Visit the National Asian Pacific American Center on Aging for more information.

NAPCA National Toll-free Multilingual Helpline Numbers:

English 1-800-336-2722                       
Chinese 1-800-582-4218
Korean 1-800-582-4259                       
Vietnamese 1-800-582-4336

The Healthcare Reform Bill

The Affordable Care Act was signed into law on March 23, 2010. The new legislation is a historic precedent that it will lower health care costs, provide more health care choices, and improve the quality of health care for all Americans.

What will it do?

The new healthcare reform legislation will include substantial investments in prevention, disease research, public health, and will end discrimination against individuals with pre-existing conditions. The Act will invest $7 billion in community health centers within the next 5 years, increase funding to enhance diversity in the healthcare workforce, and allow for greater language and cultural access. It will also expand Medicaid to include working poor, and provide coverage for low-income and middle-income individuals through health exchanges.

History

Several proposals on providing health care access and affordability for Americans have been proposed throughout the 20^th Century. Since the 1930’s, over four administrations have attempted to reform the healthcare system. While small changes were achieved, large measures were often defeated. Prior to the Obama administration, the most recent attempt was with the Clinton administration’s health care plan of 1993, which met with heavy opposition.

How will the Asian Pacific American Community be affected?

APAs will have greater access to health care and preventative care. As the APA communities continue to suffer disproportionate rates of Hepatitis B, cervical cancer, mental illness, and heightened diabetes risk, it is important that this community gain better access to healthcare. The Senate Bill has provisions that would provide training for culturally competency and linguistic competency. This will be vital for the APA community, in which quarter of the population are “linguistically isolated” and can’t access health services due to language barriers. The new healthcare reform bill will also allow greater access for legal immigrants who will be qualified for state exchanges.

APAs will benefit from the quality and affordability of the health care reform. Affordability will be important for the APA community, especially with a disproportionate number of ethnic groups living in poverty, such as Hmong Americans, Bangladeshi Americans, and Micronesians. In addition health disparities that affect the APA communities will be studied further under the new bill. It will increase data collection that will involve statistics that are specific to the APA community. The new bill will set standards for collecting and managing data on race, ethnicity, gender, primary language, and disability status. Understanding health disparities will improve how health care providers treat APA individuals, and improve the quality of care this community receives.

Key components of The Affordable Care Act

How it will help small businesses:

• Up to 4 million small businesses are eligible for tax credits to help them provide insurance benefits to their workers.
• Starting in 2014 if your employer doesn’t offer insurance, you will be able to buy insurance directly in an Exchange -- a new transparent and competitive insurance marketplace where individuals and small businesses can buy affordable and qualified health benefit plans. 

How it will help seniors and those under 26:

• An estimated 4 million seniors will reach the gap in Medicare prescription drug coverage known as the “donut hole” this year.
• Under the new law, young adults will be allowed to stay on their parent’s plan until they turn 26 years old. (Statistic on how many youth under 26 are currently uninsured)

How it will help those with existing medical conditions:

• A Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan will provide new coverage options to individuals who have been uninsured for at least six months because of a pre-existing condition.
• The new law includes new rules to prevent insurance companies from denying coverage to children under the age of 19 due to a pre-existing condition.

How it will help local community health centers:

• The law includes new funding to support the construction of and expansion of services at community health centers, allowing these centers to serve some 20 million new patients across the country.

How it will address health disparities for communities of color:

• To help understand and reduce persistent health disparities, the law requires any ongoing or new Federal health program to collect and report racial, ethnic and language data. The Secretary of Health and Human Services will use this data to help identify and reduce disparities.

Other key components:

• Americans who earn less than 133 percent of the poverty level (approximately $14,000 for an individual and $29,000 for a family of four) will be eligible to enroll in Medicaid.
• Under the new law, most individuals who can afford it will be required to obtain basic health insurance coverage or pay a fee to help offset the costs of caring for uninsured Americans.
• All new plans must cover certain preventive services such as mammograms and colonoscopies without charging a deductible, co-pay or coinsurance.
  

For more resources, please visit
Factsheet on AAPIs and Prevention in The Affordable Care Act