Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis wrote an op-ed this past week for ImpreMedia on the Affordable Care Act and Latinos in which she highlighted that “Too often because of cost, Latinos don’t get the preventive care they need to stay healthy. This is particularly true during tough economic times, when many are forced to forego health services for other needs, like rent or groceries.  A recent study found that 6.1 million Latinos gained prevention coverage in their private insurance plans in 2011.”  You can read the rest of her op-ed HERE.

And throughout the week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has highlighted how the new law has:

• Helped more than 5.1 million people with Medicare save over $3.2 billion| en español
• Provided more than 45 million women access to preventive health care services| en español
• Helped young adults get and keep affordable health coverage  
• Made it possible for nine states to deem health insurance rate hikes “unreasonable”

We’ve also made a fact sheet available in ENGLISH and SPANISH to highlight how the Hispanic community benefits. For example:

• Under the new law, insurance companies are already banned from denying coverage to children because of a pre-existing condition. In 2014, they are banned from discriminating against anyone with a pre-existing condition.
• Already, 6.1 million Latinos now have coverage for preventive services without additional cost sharing. Under the new health care law, all Americans joining a new health care plan must be able to receive recommended preventive services with no out-of-pocket costs such as co-pays or deductibles.
• Already, approximately 11.8 million Latinos are free from worrying about lifetime limits on coverage thanks to the new health care law.
• Over 2.5 million young adults have gained coverage because of the new health care law, including 736,000 Latinos.
• The new Exchanges, tax credits and Medicaid expansion will result in as many as 9 million Latinos becoming eligible to get coverage they lack today. And it expands the Medicaid program and provides $900 million dollars for Puerto Rico to expand coverage on the island. 
• More than 500,000 Latinos with Medicare have already received one or more free preventive services, including the new Annual Wellness Visit.  The new law also provides relief for people in the Medicare prescription drug coverage gap or donut hole – the ones with the highest prescription drug costs. 
• Approximately 35% of patients served by community health centers in 2009 were Latino, and the Affordable Care Act increases the funding available to the more than 1,100 community health centers in all fifty states to enable them to double the number of patients they served from 19 million to nearly 40 million by 2015. 

By White House Deputy Director of Hispanic Media Alejandra Campoverdi

While we initially spoke a bit about our professional backgrounds and what our jobs entail at the White House, the afternoon took a more personal turn as we took questions from the students.  The girls wanted to know what kinds of obstacles we had overcome in our lives, if we ever felt insecure about our abilities or hesitant to share our opinions, and when we knew what we wanted to do in our careers.  We shared our personal experiences and admitted to doubts, confusion and hurdles along the way.  We all came from different backgrounds and experiences, parts of the country and perspectives, yet the common theme that came across from all the women on the panel was the importance of discovering your passion and having the courage to allow it to guide your path.    

I imagine that I speak for the other panelists as well when I say that meeting these girls was a highlight of my experience at the White House.  My background likely has similarities to theirs, despite being an ocean apart, which was something I talked about.  I was raised in a Mexican immigrant household by a single mother and my family dealt with issues such as limited access to health care, unemployment, and immigration status, as well as struggling in general just to make ends meet.  Spanish was the primary language in my home during my childhood and dreams such as working in the White House didn’t seem anywhere near the realm of possibility.  I know how much it would have meant for me when I was their age to hear from women who came from similar experiences, faced comparable obstacles and overcame the statistics.  

EGA’s motto is “learning without limits, achieve without limits and futures without limits.”  I believe that truly is the most important lesson to internalize as one dares to find the courage to dream big.  I hope in a small way, the girls were able to see themselves in us just as I was able to recognize myself in them.  And just as President Obama encourages young people everywhere to “dream big dreams,”  he is the example of the extraordinary places our dreams and our education can take us.

By White House Deputy Director of Hispanic Media Alejandra Campoverdi

To see a fact sheet on the 2013 Budget, An Economy Built to Last and Security for Latino Families, please click HERE.  To download the factsheet in Spanish, Una Economía Constuida Para Que Perdure y Seguridad Para Las Familias Latinas, click HERE.

Here are some highlights:

• President Obama is committed to giving every American a fair shot at success by improving and reforming K-12 education, which is of particular importance to the Hispanic community given that there are 17.1 million Latinos ages 17 and younger in the United States.  And in order to take on the challenge that only 13 percent of Latinos have college degrees, the budget propses measures to make it easier for students to afford a postsecondary education and expand access to college by helping students and their families pay for college.

• With Latino workers making up 15 percent of the United States’ labor force, the budget takes steps to equip American workers with good-paying jobs today and in the future by building the skills of American workers, including preparing young people for jobs through a reformed career and technical education program.  It also includes support for minority businesses by enhancing access to credit and cutting taxes for small businesses seeking to grow and expand, which uniquely affects Hispanics who open businesses at a rate three times faster than the national average.

• To renew the sense of security among middle class Americans including Hispanic Americans, the President is firmly committed to promoting affordable home ownership through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). In 2009, FHA financing was used by 37 percent of all homebuyers but 59 percent of Hispanic families. The budget also calls for permanently extending expanded tax cuts for lower-income families that the President first signed into law in 2009, which provide a larger tax credit to 11.8 million families with 21.3 million children, including a significant number of Latino families.

• One out of every four Hispanic households is food insecure, compared with the national average of 15 percent.  The budget takes important steps to prevent hunger and improve nutrition by providing full funding to support the 9.1 million individuals expected to participate in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women Infants and Children (WIC) and supporting continued implementation of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.

• And in an effort to promote citizenship and integration, the budget dedicates $11 million to citizenship education and preparation programs, replication of promising practices of integration for use by communities across the Nation, and expansion of innovative English learning tools.

In this make or break moment for the middle class and those trying to reach it, including Hispanic Americans, and it is important that we preserve the basic American promise that if you work hard, you can do well enough to raise a family, own a home, and put a little away for retirement.  These measures are part of President Obama’s blueprint for building an economy where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded.

Alejandra Campoverdi is the White House Deputy Director of Hispanic Media

Last week, as promised, a large package of hot dogs with all the fixins arrived at Channel 23’s offices in Miami with everything needed to bring the Chicago Dog experience to the Sunshine State. Inside the insulated box were packages of all beef hot dogs, poppy seed buns, yellow mustard, bright green relish, onions, tomato wedges, pickle spears, sport peppers and celery salt – as well as a note from President Obama himself. The anchorman generously shared his victors prize with his Univision colleagues and everyone gathered together in the studio for an impromptu hot dog party, courtesy of the President himself. 

During the evening news broadcast, Mario Andres Moreno sat in his anchor’s chair with his Chicago Dog waiting in front of him as he recounted the story with his co-anchors.  A screen shot behind them featured a picture of the President, a hot dog, and the tag, “Palabra Cumplida”– “Kept His Word.”

The President is looking forward to a delivery of Cuban Fritas to the White House next season!

Photo by Daniel Lastra/Univision.com

Alejandra Campoverdi is White House Deputy Director of Hispanic Media

April 27, 2011. (by Carlos Llano, Official Miami-Dade College Photos)

Today at a community conversation at Miami-Dade College, the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics and the U.S. Department of Education released the report Winning the Future: Improving Education for the Latino Community. The President will be delivering a commencement address at Miami-Dade College Friday evening. To view the report, click HERE.

The report shows that Hispanic success in education and in the labor market is of immediate and long‐term importance to America’s economy. It also shows that Hispanics have the lowest education attainment level overall of any group in the U.S. Hispanics are by far the largest minority group in today’s American public education system, numbering more than 12.4 million in the country’s elementary, middle and high schools. Nearly 22 percent, or slightly more than 1 in 5, of all pre‐K-12 students enrolled in America’s public schools is Hispanic, but they face persistent obstacles to educational attainment. Less than half are enrolled in any early learning program. Only about half earn their high school diploma on time; those who do complete high school are only half as likely as their peers to be prepared for college and only 4 percent have completed graduate or professional degree programs.

As part of the community conversation in Miami today, Senior Obama Administration officials met with dozens of educators and community leaders, to exchange ideas and outline strategies to meet President Obama’s goal for the nation to have the best-educated workforce in the world by 2020.

April 27, 2011. (by Carlos Llano, Official Miami-Dade College Photos)

Alejandra Campoverdi is the Deputy Director of Hispanic Media.