POLICY CENTER

Resources

Translated fact sheets and other resources about the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

How Health Care Reform Benefits You

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed sweeping health care reform legislation that will provide access to quality, affordable health coverage for a majority of the 8 million uninsured in California, including 81 percent of African Americans and 60 percent of Latinos and Asians and Pacific Islanders who are currently uninsured.

The benefits of health care reform for California's communities of color are outlined in CPEHN's factsheets:

How Health Care Reform Benefits You - African American (English)
How Health Care Reform Benefits You - Latino (English, Spanish)
How Health Care Reform Benefits You - Native American (English)
How Health Care Reform Benefits You - API (English, Korean, Tagalog, Khmer, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Hmong, Lao)

Covered California and Medi-Cal Expansion

Achieving Equity by Building a Bridge from Eligible to Enrolled
(January 2013)
This fact sheet, developed in partnership with UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education, provides an update to the 2012 report and examines how language barriers might impact enrollment in Covered California (the Health Benefit Exchange).

Medi-Cal Expansion: What's at Stake for Communities of Color
(January 2013)
This fact sheet includes data to illustrate the need to fully expand Medi-Cal with culturally and linguistically appropriate outreach efforts to enroll the newly eligible, two-thirds (67%) of whom are from communities of color and more than one-third (35%) of whom speak English less than very well.

Consumer and Patient Principles for Electronic Health Information Exchange

The Consumer and Patient Principles for Electronic Health Information Exchange in California, also available in Spanish, includes the core expectations and minimum criteria that patients and consumers can use to evaluate the design and implementation of health information exchange, a key provision of the ACA. These principles will help ensure that HIE improves health outcomes, reduces costs, allows patients to participate in their care, and leads to a more efficient and effective health care system.

Additional Resources

The New Health Law Helps You!, a series of county-specific fact sheets from The Health Consumer Alliance that explains the basic provisions of the Affordable Care Act in plain language for Californians. Available in multiple languages.

Prescription for Change, an interactive website created by Consumer Reports to help you discover what the new law means for you and your family.

Fact sheets from HHS on how new regulations requiring health insurers to pay the cost of preventive services and screening will benefit African Americans, Latinos, and Asian and Pacific Islanders, as well as seniors, and women and families.

Implementation Timeline, a resource prepared by the Committees on Ways & Means, Energy & Commerce, and Education & Labor, provides a timeline for major milestones in the implementation of national health reform.

Addressing Health and Health Care Disparities, a resource prepared by the Committees on Ways & Means, Energy & Commerce, and Education & Labor, provides an overview of key provisions in the health reform law addressing health disparities.

National Health Reform Proposals Hold Promise for California's Communities of Color, CPEHN's latest factsheet, examines how national reform efforts will impact California's diverse communities.

Health Care Reform Resource Center from the Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF) provides important facts, timely up-dates, and specific data to help you navigate health care reform and make informed decisions.

Health Reform and Communities of Color: Implications for Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, a brief by the Kaiser Family Foundation that details how health reform will impact communities of color.

Health Care Reform for a Diverse Nation: The Voices of California's Communities of Color, a brief by the Having Our Say coalition that offers health care reform recommendations that are by and for California’s low-income communities of color.

The Health Equity Activist’s Guide to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, an analysis of disparities and health equity provisions in the new health reform law from Summit Health Institute for Research and Education, Inc.