Alejandra Ceja, executive director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics (WHIEEH) will join several Florida community organizations in a bilingual community event in Tampa, Fla., to help Latinos learn about and enroll in quality health care plans available under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The day-long summit is one of a dozen National Latino Enrollment Summits that have been held throughout the U.S. during March to make sure Hispanics have the information they need about the plans to enroll in the one that’s best for them. They will also have an opportunity to learn about what financial assistance may be available to them and to work one-on-one with certified ACA navigators to get enrolled on-site.
Nearly 1.3 million Latinos are uninsured in Florida. On the day of the event, attendees interested in enrolling will need to provide an email address, Social Security number, proof of legal residency (residence card, or citizenship certificate or passport), and income verification to apply. As consumers continue to surge to HealthCare.gov before the March 31st deadline, more than 6 million Americans have signed up for quality, affordable health insurance plans through the federal and state marketplaces since October 1.
The Department is working with state and local partners to provide information to some of the country’s 50 million uninsured, including secondary and post-secondary students, ESL students and low-income families. Among the most important provisions for families and students is access to preventative care that will result in students spending more time in the classroom learning, and less time outside of class recovering from preventable illnesses.
For several years, the Department has engaged in sharing health information with students and parents including details about the Children's Health Insurance Program in the 1990s and the H1NI flu outbreak in 2010.