Most Uninsured Latinos Are Eligible for ACA Coverage, HHS Says
If all states expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, about 95% of eligible and uninsured Latino U.S. residents would qualify for that program, the Children's Health Insurance Program or subsidized coverage through the law's insurance exchanges, according to a new HHS report, Kaiser Health News' "Capsules" reports.
The report found that about 10.2 million of the estimated 41.3 million uninsured U.S. residents who are eligible for coverage are Latino (Galewitz, "Capsules," Kaiser Health News, 2/11).
Of those 10.2 million, roughly 4.2 million might be eligible for Medicaid or CHIP and about 3.9 million could be eligible for federal tax credits to offset the cost of coverage in the exchanges (Dickson, Modern Healthcare, 2/11).
According to the report, 62% of Latinos who would be eligible for exchange coverage live in California, Florida and Texas. Roughly half of those states' eligible Latino residents are between ages 18 and 35 (Viebeck, "Healthwatch," The Hill, 2/11).
HHS officials said they do not yet have enrollment figures for eligible Latinos who have applied for coverage through HealthCare.gov, the government-run insurance exchange that serves 36 states ("Capsules," Kaiser Health News, 2/11).
The new report was released as part of the Obama administration's efforts to boost enrollment in the exchanges and encourage more states to expand Medicaid, McClatchy DC reports (Ordonez, McClatchy DC, 2/11). As part of those efforts, HHS on Monday urged Latinos to look at the newly launched Spanish version of the federal insurance exchange at CuidadoDeSalud.gov (Howell, Washington Times, 2/11).
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