Informing State Latino Community About Health Care Changes

The Affordable Care Act has been the law of the land since March 2010, yet millions of Americans remain uninsured.

“I don’t have health care,” said Jamar Smith.

Smith is among the 344,000 people in Connecticut who don’t have health insurance. A federally-funded organization called Access Health CT hopes to reduce that number by January, when the provision requiring all Americans to have insurance goes into effect.

“Individuals can come in, evaluate their choices, see what’s available. They can fill out a very brief application and find out again what they might qualify for as it relates to tax savings,” said Jason Madrack, Chief Marketing Officer for Access Health CT.

Access Health CT is also branching out to target the Latino community, with a Spanish-language TV series called “Mercado de Salud.”

“One out of every 4 individuals who aren’t insured in our state happen to be from the Hispanic community. Since they’re under-represented in the uninsured population, we want to make sure we’re doing everything we can to get the word out to them and hopefully get them enrolled in coverage,” added Madrack.

The series runs twice a month on Univision from now through next March. Madrack said the shows will break down how the health care law works and explain how people can get on a plan.

“Hopefully, it will provide richer content and more information, given the fact that we have 30 minutes to communicate with those folks.”

Madrack hopes the outreach pays off because the mandate requiring all Americans to have health insurance takes effect January 1st.

“We’re highly encouraging folks to sign up and make sure they are covered as of January 1st, and keep that coverage for the rest of the year…and hopefully stay healthy.”

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