328 spike for men 127 for women in Nevada since Obamacare took effect
By Daniel Garza
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas The White Houses failed rollout of its Spanish-language health care website CuidadoDeSalud.gov is already a laughingstock. Much like its English language counterpart the site is filled with technical issues. There are mis-translations and links to English-only pages and forms.
But this isnt even the worst of the Affordable Care Acts problems ...
the joke is on Hispanics & Latinos like myself.
Beyond the faulty launch of the federal website the Affordable Care Act penalizes the Hispanic-American community in several serious ways. Despite what we were promised the Affordable Care Act is surprisingly unaffordable.
The law was supposed to help us
but it actually makes affordable and quality health care even harder to find. One issue that has received too little attention is how Obamacare affects patient choice and doctor-patient relationships. These are major issues for Hispanic-Americans. According to the Census Bureau
- Hispanics are the least likely demographic to seek out medical attention.
- A full 42 of Hispanics dont visit the doctor even once a year.
When we do go to see a doctor were very picky. The National Hispanic Medical Association reports that Hispanics prefer doctors who appreciate our culture and understand our families dynamics and our traditions."
Unfortunately our options are limited by the fact that only 5 of doctors are Hispanic (even though were more than 26 of Nevadas population). Thats where Obamacare kicks in and makes things worse.
Because the law imposes so many expensive mandates and regulations on health insurance the most affordable health care plans no longer include the large networks that give us the most choice. For Hispanics this limits our already-strained access to the doctors we want and worsens our cultures chronic doctor shortages.
But again this isnt even the worst of the Affordable Care Acts problems. Obamacare will simply be too expensive for many Hispanics. Despite what we were promised the Affordable Care Act is surprisingly unaffordable.
The problem for us stems from the laws over-reliance on the young. This directly affects the Hispanic-American community because we are significantly younger than the average American. In fact our median
age is 27 the age thats most severely harmed by the Affordable Care Acts premium increases.
This is either an unfortunate coincidence or a cruel joke. Either way it couldnt be worse for Hispanics financial health. A recent analysis by Forbes concludes that the average 27-year-olds health care premium has spiked by 328 for men and 127 for women in Nevada since Obamacare took effect.
These skyrocketing prices are bad news for the more than 716000 Hispanics and Latinos who call Nevada home. Many of us will struggle to find the cash to pay much more than we already do even after subsidies. Thanks to the individual mandate were stuck between a rock and a hard place:
We can either pony up the cash or pay a penalty that by 2016 will total at least $700 for individuals and more than $2000 for families.
This litany of problems makes it seem like Hispanic-Americans needs werent taken into account by the Affordable Care Acts architects. Surely we deserved better. We have the highest uninsured rate in the nation at just under 30 and yet Obamacare gives us little reason to join its ranks.
Then again it would be hard to sign up for Obamacare online even if we wanted to. The broken website makes a mockery of the Spanish language and thats only the latest of Obamacares broken promises to our
community.
Daniel Garza currently serves as Executive Director of the LIBRE Initiative and resides in Mission Texas. Garza is former president of Televisas HISPANIC PODER Group and is former host & co-producer of Univisions Agenda Washington" a weekly Spanish-language news talk show covering the U.S. Hispanic community.
