Nominate a White House Champion of Change for AAPI Affordable Care Act Outreach

For too long, many members of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander community have lacked access to quality, affordable health care. Consider this: one in four Korean Americans is uninsured; nearly 40% of Asian American women over the age of 40 don’t get routine mammograms; one in four Asian Americans over the age of 18 – and one in three Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders – have not seen a doctor in the last year.

The Affordable Care Act provides an opportunity to provide nearly two million uninsured Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders with quality, affordable health care – but these individuals won’t gain access to affordable health care unless they know about the benefits of the Act and how to enroll for coverage.

Since open enrollment in the Health Insurance Marketplace kicked off on October 1, 2013, thousands of community advocates, direct service providers, and community based organizations have stepped up to help AAPIs gain access to health insurance, many for the first times in their lives. They have knocked on doors, educated their friends and neighbors, and helped individuals and families enroll through HealthCare.gov.

The dedication, commitment, and passion of these “Champions of Change” is worth celebrating – and that’s why we need your help!

We’re asking YOU to nominate an individual or organization  as a “White House Champion of Change” for their work to educate AAPIs on the Affordable Care Act.  You can nominate Affordable Care Act navigators or consumer assisters, direct service providers, staff of community-based organizations, and other individuals or entities that have focused their Affordable Care Act outreach and enrollment efforts on ensuring that AAPIs will fully benefit from health reform. We need your help to nominate the leaders and heroes who have developed best practices that contributed to the success of Affordable Care Act outreach for the AAPI community.

There are three main categories that you can nominate someone for:

1. Educators, Assisters, and Navigators. Recognizing individuals who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to educate, assist, and enroll AAPI individuals and families. Their efforts have helped AAPIs understand the Affordable Care Act and ensured that they benefit from this historic law.   
2. Emerging Community Leaders. Individuals and organizations focused on emerging communities, for example, small, rural, and newly immigrated AAPI communities. These leaders have gone the extra step to ensure that limited English proficient, newly arrived immigrant and refugee families, and AAPI individuals in locations without access to navigators able to provide in-language support, can learn about and enroll in health insurance plans.
3. Expert Communicators. Individuals who have developed top-notch outreach and communication strategies to ensure that AAPIs can read, hear, and learn about the benefits of the Affordable Care Act. Their communications strategies included activities such as developing in-language resources, developing written, oral, and media-friendly materials, and working with community groups, faith communities, and ethnic media to reach AAPI communities across the country.  

When sending in your nominations, please describe the individuals and communities that the Champion of Change has helped, providing as much detail as possible. In addition, make sure to highlight the best practices they used to be creative, effective, and impactful in their Affordable Care Act education, outreach, enrollment, and/or communication efforts. 

Nominate an AAPI Affordable Care Act Outreach Champion of Change

NOTE: Nominations are now due no later than Wednesday, March 5, 2014.

Gautam Raghavan is an Advisor in the White House Office of Public Engagement.

Making It Possible For Me to Chase My Dream: My #GetCovered Story

The following blog post was originally posted on the HHS website.

Hi. I’m Stefania Fochi. I’m 25 years old, I live in Sarasota, Fla., and for the past four years I didn’t have health insurance.

It made me very nervous, because I work with heavy machinery when I make empanadas and pasta in my family’s business. There have been times when I’ve been using the big 2,000-pound kneader and almost caught my hand and thought: If I had to go to the emergency room, what would I do?

Also there’s a history of ovarian cancer in my mother’s family: My great-grandma died of it, my grandma had it and my Mom had it, so I need to keep up on the checkups. But I wasn’t able to because I didn’t have health insurance.  I rarely was able to go to a doctor in the four years since I quit my job with a corporation to start an empanada business.

Now I have health insurance that gives me peace of mind and financial security. I logged onto the Health Insurance Marketplace at HealthCare.gov and found an affordable policy with excellent coverage. Because I was eligible for lower costs, my policy costs only $98 a month, with a deductible of $750.

I think it’s very important for 20-year-olds to have insurance even though many of them think they are too young and that nothing can happen. You never know. You could get into a car accident. Not having health insurance puts you instantly in a hole.

Having health insurance is going to help me achieve my goals of creating an empanada empire because I will have the peace of mind knowing that I don’t have to spend any time worrying about what if something happens to me. I will be able to focus on what’s important, which is going to be my business.

We opened our first pasta and empanada store on Monday. Having a business is hard. We work a lot but it is definitely a labor of love. And having health insurance is absolutely making it possible for me to chase my dream.

Moving Forward to Protect Native American Women: Justice Department Announces VAWA 2013 Pilot Project for Tribes

Today, we are excited to announce a key step that will help protect Native American women from domestic violence. Last year, President Obama signed the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) recognizing a tribe’s inherent right to protect women previously left vulnerable by gaps in the law.  Today, the Attorney General announced that three American Indian tribes – the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation of Oregon, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona, and the Tulalip Tribes of Washington –will participate in the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Pilot Project to implement the new law. Crimes of domestic violence committed on the reservations of these tribes will be subject to tribal criminal prosecution, regardless of the defendant’s status as an Indian or non-Indian.  The Pilot Projects are vital to delivering justice for Native American women who are victims of domestic violence and to providing a safer and more secure Indian Country.

Improving the safety of our tribal communities is a priority of President Obama and his Administration, including recognizing and strengthening tribal sovereignty. A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 46% of Native American women have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime. Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett highlighted the issue of domestic violence in Indian Country when she traveled to the Tulalip Tribes of Washington last year and spent time with tribal criminal justice leaders engaged in ending violence against Native women.  Along with the Pilot Projects, the 2013 reauthorization of VAWA also clarifies that tribal courts have full civil jurisdiction to provide Native American women the safety and security of protection orders. And the new law gives additional tools to federal prosecutors to combat severe cases of domestic violence. These important provisions remind us all that a victim is a victim, and that everyone is entitled to protection against any perpetrator.

VAWA builds upon the foundation of the Tribal Law and Order Act (TLOA), which recently marked its third anniversary and continues to strengthen tribal sovereignty through more effective tribal justice systems. Today, the participating tribes in the Pilot Project can ensure that justice is served on their own lands, stop the cycle of violence against women, and help fulfill President Obama’s larger agenda to make Indian Country a safer, more prosperous place for Native Americans.  Tribal participation in these Pilot Projects is crucial in building a better criminal justice system, bolstering tribal control and authority, and ultimately saving the lives of Native American women.

More information about today’s announcement can be found on the Department of Justice’s Tribal Justice and Safety Web site, available at: www.justice.gov/tribal. 

Lynn Rosenthal is the White House Advisor on Violence Against Women; Jodi Gillette is the Senior Advisor for Native American Affairs in the White House Domestic Policy Council; and Raina Thiele is an Associate Director in the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.