LIF’s Health Program seeks to enhance and promote the health indicators for the 11 million Latinos in California including low-income, rural, immigrant and limited-English speaking populations. Our work specifically aims to:
- Increase ACCESS to health care for all Californians, and
- Increase the QUALITY of health care services to meet the unique cultural and linguistic needs of the Latino community.
Latinos remain the largest uninsured population in California with over 2.3 million non-elderly adults, or 41%, who lack health insurance. While the economic backbone of this state depends upon the health and productivity of Latinos, numerous studies have documented the concentration of Latinos in industries with the lowest rates of job-based coverage. For those families that do have job-based coverage, research shows significant declines in employers offering health care and a rise in premiums that leave millions of workers unable to afford coverage for themselves or their dependents. Latino children remain the largest percentage of the uninsured child population. For many, going without a regular source of health care can effect a children’s ability to learn in school as well as jeopardize their social, cognitive and physical development.
In the midst of our current uninsured crisis, there is a window of opportunity in California. The coming year, 2006, will present new avenues to expand health access and to build momentum for universal health care. The Latino community needs to be poised and ready to articulate their unique health needs during these windows of opportunity. LIF has already built a solid foundation of Latino leaders who are ready to get active. Now is the time to move efforts forward.
LIF’s health program specifically focuses on advocacy to increase health access for Latinos in California. We do this through legislative, budget and administrative advocacy. Through our legislative advocacy we advance legislation that minimizes or eliminates barriers to health care and expands health care coverage. LIF also analyzes and provides input throughout the state budget process. LIF works closely with the state departments that administer and oversee these programs to ensure they are effective, efficient and meeting the needs of Latinos. One of the ways LIF works with state departments is through the administrative or regulatory process. These departments include Department of Health Services, Management Risk Medical Insurance Board, and the Department of Managed Health Care.
SB 840 Steering Committee – Universal Health Care Legislation
For three years LIF has been the leading Latino organization on state legislative efforts to achieve universal health care. We have partnered with the office of Senator Kuehl (author of SB 840), Health Care For All, Health Access and many other organizations to ensure that the Latino community is a central focus in outreach and education efforts. LIF currently serves as a member of the Sacramento-based steering committee to develop strategies to increase legislative support to secure passage of the bill and to coordinate community education and mobilization efforts statewide.
SB 853: Cultural and Linguistic Requirements in All Health Care Plans
Currently LIF is leading efforts to ensure that newly developed regulations requiring commercial health care plans provide language assistance to the non or limited English speaking enrollees are strong and effective. The regulations are a result of legislation signed in 2003, Senate Bill 853 authored by Senator Escutia, which called for the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) to establish standards for commercial health care plans to develop a plan to provide translation and interpretation services for limited English proficient enrollees.
Latino Universal Health Access Network – LUHAN
As a way to increase the connection between community leaders and the policy making process, LIF created the LUHAN, which publishes an online newsletter and resource tool on a quarterly basis. LUHAN provides updates on critical and timely issues impacting health care policy in California. The e-newsletter also highlights the work of community groups, announces upcoming policy and community events, and provides advocacy steps for community leaders and their members to engage policy advocacy on health related issues. Stay informed, subscribe today!
Latino Health Collaborative
Founded by LIF and the San Bernardino Department of Public Health, LHC is a regional collaborative of Latino public health and community leaders working to ensure Latinos in San Bernardino and the larger Inland Valley region have better access to quality health care services. LHC’s mission is to improve the health of Latinos in San Bernardino County, serve as a clearinghouse of information on health statistics, and to monitor how local and state officials are meeting the needs of its residents.
SB 840 Advocates’ Trainings
In partnership with Health Access and Health Care for All, LIF is co-sponsoring a training for community leaders to learn more about the current legislative proposal and develop strategies for building support in their local community.
- San Joaquin Advocates’ Training April 23, 2006
- Inland Valley Advocates’ Training June 2006
For more information about these projects, contact Lacy Serros at lacy@lif.org or 415-284-7223
LUCES: Latinas United for Community Empowerment and Social Justice Project
Through this leadership development and advocacy training project, LIF will increase the leadership capacity of local leaders, increase local and statewide networks, and develop health care priorities for Latinas in California.
In 2006, LIF is focusing on the following priorities:
- Universal Health Care for All Californians
- SB 840 (Senator Kuehl) - provides health insurance to all residents of California through a single payer health insurance program. The program would offer comprehensive benefits and provider choice.
- Covering All Children In California
- SB 437 (Senator Escutia) - establishes the California Healthy Kids Program to provide coverage to all uninsured children in California. Specifically this bill would extend eligibility for the Medi-Cal and Healthy Families Programs to all children below 300% of the federal poverty level (FPL). For uninsured children with family incomes above 300% FPL, pilot projects would be developed to offer coverage options at reasonable costs.
- AB 1948 (Assembly Member Montañez) - simplifies current procedures for the Medi-Cal or Healthy Families programs. Currently, an eligible child can be temporarily enrolled into one of the programs through an electronic application with a Child Health and Disability Prevention (CHDP) provider. For a child to continue to receive health care coverage an application must be completed and submitted on the child’s behalf within 60 days of the beginning of the temporary coverage. In order to prevent unnecessary gaps in a child’s health care coverage, AB 1948 would expand the features of the electronic application to allow for full enrollment into either program and eliminate the burdensome full application requirement.
- Ensuring Health Care is Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate
- SB 1405 (Senator Soto) – creates a task force to develop a process for obtaining federal matching funds for the provision of language assistance services to limited-English proficient patients enrolled in the Medi-Cal or Healthy Families programs. The task force would report recommendations to the Legislature no later than July 1, 2009.
- SB 1471 (Senator Kuehl) – ensures that community-based programs providing comprehensive sexuality education (as pursuant to chaptered legislation SB 71 authored by Senator Kuehl) are meeting the same criteria required in public schools. Specifically the bill would require that these sexuality education programs are medically accurate, unbiased, non-religious based, and culturally, linguistically, and age relevant. Further, the bill calls for individuals providing the education within these programs to be appropriately trained.
- Expanding Consumer Protections in Health Care Coverage
- AB 977 (Assembly Member Nava) - creates greater transparency for health care consumers about the rise in health care costs by requiring new standards and a public review process when health insurers propose additional out-of-pocket costs, increases in co-payments, and benefit limitations. The Department of Insurance (DOI) and the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) would be required to establish regulations to determine the standards and review process.
- Title
- AB 2281 (Assembly Member Chan) - establishes consumer protections for persons enrolled in high-deductible plans. Specifically, the bill would require high deductibles health care plans to cap total out-of-pocket costs for consumers at $5,000 for individuals and $10,000 for families. This bill would also expand mandatory benefits provided by these health care plans to include preventative care as a mandatory benefit and limit co-payments to no more than 30% of services.
LIF has always sought avenues to collaborate with advocates, community leaders, and policy makers to create change. Our current collaborative efforts include:
Latino Health Alliance
Due in part to LIF’s leadership, the LHA was created as a coalition of statewide organizations with expertise in Latino health to improve the health of California’s Latino community. LHA coordinates in-depth analyses and policy recommendations on the impact of health care policies on the Latino community, which it disseminates to community based organizations, legislative staff and members, and the media. LHA also holds an annual policy briefing in Sacramento. Current members of LHA include Latino Issues Forum, Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, California Primary Care Association, California Immigrant Welfare Collaborative, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
LHA's 2009 Policy Briefing - “Budget Reform Debate and the Impact on Latino Health in California” Tuesday, February 10, 2009 - California State Capitol:
LIF seeks to inform policymakers, advocacy partners and community-based organizations about the on-going needs and current health status of the Latino community through our research projects. Our work product serves as the basis for the development of our public policy agenda and provides essential information to health care advocates throughout the state.
Reports
- Beyond a Culture of Fear: How Welfare Reform has failed Immigrants and Public Health in California, January 1999
- Confronting Asthma, April 1999
- A New Bottom Line: Health Insurance and Minority Owned Small Business in California. January 2000
- Taking Action: Confronting the Health, Social and Environmental Factors Associated with Asthma in the Latino Community, January 2002
- Our Health, Our Rights: Reproductive Justice for Latinas in California, September 2003
Policy Briefs and Fact Sheets
Policy Brief: Latino Health in the Inland Valley of California (Feb. 2005)
Fact Sheet: Health Access and Latinos (Jan. 2005)
Fact Sheet: Latina Health (Jan. 2005)
Fact Sheet: Obesity and Malnutrition in Latino Communities (Jan. 2005)
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