Basics of the Law
The Affordable Care Act is putting the consumers back in control of their health care. Based on this law, there would be a new Patient’s Bill of Rights, which will provide the American people the flexibility and stability they need so they can make informed options about their health. Some of the coverage of this law includes the ending of exclusion of the pre-existing condition for children. This will stop health plans to deny or limit benefits to children below nineteen years old because of their pre-existing health condition. It also keeps young adults under twenty six to be covered under their parents’ health plan. Moreover, this law stops the lifetime limits on health coverage.
The Affordable Care Act also imposes the publicly justification of any unreasonable rate hikes of the insurance companies. It also protects people regarding their choice of doctors as well as the removal of the barriers from the insurance company in case emergency service is needed.
Affordable Care Act’s Effect to Latinos
The Affordable Care Act will make healthcare insurance coverage more accessible and affordable in favor of millions of Americans. For other ethnic and racial minorities including Latinos, this law will increase their access to affordable and quality health coverage and will also address its inequalities (hhs.gov). In addition, they will be able to invest in wellness and prevention as well as giving families and individuals additional control over their health care.
At the start of year 2014, more than ten million uninsured Latino Americans will have the opportunity to get an affordable insurance coverage (hhs.gov). Currently, more than eight million Latinos, who are privately insured, already have preventive service access with no cost sharing. In addition, more preventive services have been available for Latina women such as HPV testing, breastfeeding support, counseling services, cervical cancer screenings, mammograms, and prenatal care. All of these have benefited almost five million women without cost sharing. This shows that millions of both male and female Latinos are currently benefiting from Affordable Care Act. As an effect health care disparity among Latino Americans may have decreased and continuously will as there are many upcoming benefits at the start of the year 2014.
There are also other beneficial effects that this law provided to elderly Latinos such as nearly four million of them already received health coverage and already had access to various preventive services without cost sharing. Additionally, almost one million young adult Latinos between nineteen and twenty five years of age are now covered through their parents’ health plan either individually purchased or employer-sponsored one.
Since the Affordable Care Act provides more control to Latinos over their health care, more informed options are also provided for their own health care management. Preventive health care for all Americans is an ensured inclusion in this law. This would be an additional help for Latinos who are usually less likely to get preventive care (whitehouse.gov). Furthermore, the enactment of this law will move towards eradication of the racial disparities, which many Latinos are experiencing in their healthcare through investing in research regarding health disparities. With this initiative, the racial disparities among Latinos will decrease to make them equally important beneficiaries of the government’s healthcare programs. This will also prove the idea of increasing the ethnic and racial diversity of our healthcare professionals and to strengthen the cultural competency training of healthcare providers.
Latinos will have more affordable choices as there will be a creation of state-based insurance exchange to provide Latinos and small businesses with similar private insurance options, which both the President and Congress will have. This will promote competition and increase the consumers’ choice, including Latinos.
As what many people said, the Affordable Care Act provides many benefits to Latinos. Since millions of Latinos do not have health insurance coverage, there is an estimate that more than five million Latinos who will have the access to health coverage after the passing of Affordable Care Act (ifrsf.org). However, there are still many Latinos who are fully unaware that they may already be eligible to enroll for such healthcare benefit. That is why extensive information dissemination is so essential to have more Latinos in the community could benefit from this law.
Since Latinos are facing health disparity, they may already have a health condition that could be a barrier to their healthcare access. However, with the help of this law that barrier has already been eliminated as what the law imposes. Those barriers or pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and chronic disorders will now be treated as the law suggests.
The Affordable Care Act has many effects over the Latino people in the United States. Most of them are favorable as they get to have more healthcare benefits, which millions of them previously do not have. However, many Latinos still need to be informed that this law affects them in a way that healthcare disparity among them is now being addressed in a form of additional healthcare benefits and access.
Works Cited
Instituto Familiar de la Razza Inc. "Latinos and the Affordable Care Act." Instituto Familiar de la Raza. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
US Department of Health and Human Services. "About the Law | HHS.gov/healthcare." United States Department of Health and Human Services | HHS.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
US Department of Health and Human Services. "The Affordable Care Act and Latinos | HHS.gov/healthcare." United States Department of Health and Human Services | HHS.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
The White House. "The Affordable Care Act Gives Latinos Greater Control Over Their Own Health Care." The White House. Whitehouse.gov, n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
