Health Overhaul Targets Hispanics - Uninsured Hispanics Represent Big Opportunity for Insurers, the Government.; "The success of the Affordable Care Act really hinges on the ability to reach the Latino community and get them enrolled." Is this what it's all about???

From The Wall Street Journal: 

 

When WellPoint Inc. WLP +0.23%asked a group of 20 uninsured Hispanics to review educational materials on the federal health overhaul earlier this year, many had simple questions: What is health insurance? And how does it work?

 

Uninsured Hispanics represent one of the biggest opportunities—and challenges—for insurers and the government as the health law rolls out. About 10.2 million of the 53 million Hispanics in the U.S. are uninsured and could qualify for coverage under the law, according to estimates from the Obama administration.

 

As a group, they're also young and healthy—an appealing demographic for health insurers. So it is little surprise that a race is on to connect with them in the weeks before new health-insurance exchanges launch Oct. 1.
 

"The success of the Affordable Care Act really hinges on the ability to reach the Latino community and get them enrolled," said Jennifer Ng'andu, director of health and civil-rights policy at the National Council of La Raza, a Latino advocacy group.
 

According to census data, 30% of Hispanics are uninsured, the highest rate among racial and ethnic groups. Latinos as a whole have a median age of 28, compared with 37 for the overall U.S. population.
 

But signing them up won't be easy. Some don't speak English. Even with government-provided subsidies, many may not be able to afford insurance, given that Hispanics' median household income—$39,000 in 2011—significantly trails the national average, which was $51,000 that year. 

 

A May survey by Latino Decisions, a nonpartisan polling firm, found that 69% of Hispanics called the health-care law "confusing and complicated" and 71% couldn't name any policy that was part of it.
 

"This is a large demographic that is going to be, for the first time, exposing themselves to insurance. They might not know what a premium is or even what a copay is," said Dan Schuyler, director of exchange technology at Leavitt Partners LLC, a health-care consulting firm run by Michael Leavitt, the former Health and Human Services secretary under President George W. Bush.

 

Families with different immigration statuses under one roof, a common scenario, add to the complications. Illegal immigrants won't qualify for any benefits. Legal immigrants are eligible to buy insurance on the exchanges, but they generally don't qualify for Medicaid unless they have been in the country for five years. "In those mixed-status families, there are fears about enrolling in coverage and exposing undocumented family members," said Samantha Artiga, an analyst with Kaiser Family Foundation, a health-care policy organization.

An HHS spokeswoman declined to comment.

WellPoint teamed up with Univision Communications Inc., whose assets include the largest U.S. Spanish-language network, to conduct town-hall educational meetings in four states that kicked off earlier this month here in Atlanta. Florida Blue, the state's largest insurer, launched advertisements this week, in Spanish and English. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and private foundations such as the California Endowment are pouring tens of millions of dollars into enrolling uninsured Hispanics.

At a recent town hall meeting, sponsored by Univision and the WellPoint-owned Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia, more than 220 people crammed into an Atlanta auditorium to hear a panel that included local physicians. It was the first of 12 such planned sessions across the country by Univision and the WellPoint.

Eduardo Montana, a pediatric cardiologist, said people shouldn't fear the enrollment process. The new health law, Dr. Montana said, encourages people to visit the doctor proactively, so men, in particular, should overcome attitudes of "machismo" that make them reluctant to seek help, he said.

Attendees asked if the new health law affected their Medicare coverage and whether illegal immigrants were covered. (No, and they are not.)

Among those in the audience were Tomas and Marilu Landa, who said they were recently told they would be laid off from their jobs as janitors for schools in Cherokee County, Ga. Ms. Landa, a 55-year-old who recently completed chemotherapy for breast cancer, is concerned her coverage might have to be halted, as she waits for her government-subsidized insurance to start on Jan. 1, 2014. She's already postponed one mammogram because of out-of-pocket costs.

Mr. Landa pulled out a stack of a half-dozen hospital bills—including one for $1,000 and one for $40. "It's a lot of money," said Mr. Landa, 46.

Oscar Munguia, a 48-year-old attendee from the Atlanta suburb of Duluth, Ga., said his experience with insurers had been confounding: long waits on hold, voice messages and a dearth of information on what is covered and what is not. "I'd like to know more about what it's going to cover, what are deductibles," said Mr. Munguia.

WellPoint has hired 130 people who are bilingual to spearhead efforts to help inform and encourage Hispanics to enroll in California, Colorado, Georgia and New York. Those employees are fielding questions at tables set up at retail partners like Walgreen Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Those efforts will be key to building awareness with younger, healthy Hispanics—even if the discussion is occurring with parents, said Robyn Gilson, WellPoint's vice president for multicultural marketing. "When you're talking about the younger generation, Mom and Dad will be quite influential," Ms. Gilson said.

HHS recently awarded $150 million to community health centers around the country—many of which focus on serving Hispanics—for outreach and enrollment work. Last week, it announced the recipients of $67 million in grants for the "navigators" program, aimed at helping the uninsured sign up for benefits. "It really is an all-hands-on-deck effort," said Mayra Alvarez, an HHS public health policy director.

In June, a not-for-profit group called Enroll America kicked off a campaign that will deploy thousands of volunteers across the country to engage Hispanics everywhere, from supermarkets to soccer games, said Ashley Allison, the group's director of constituency engagement.

On Tuesday, Florida Blue launched advertisements with the taglines, "In the Pursuit of Health" in English and "Para una mejor salud" in Spanish. The advertisements will run when popular Univision shows are on, said Craig Thomas, Florida Blue's chief strategy and marketing officer. "These will be running when people are watching," said Mr. Thomas.