Dr. Larry Kawa, Special for USDR
While most people think that all minorities including Hispanics are blind supporters of President Obama, the numbers tell quite a different story. It turns out the while Latinos may have been promised the world by Candidate Obama, who warned them against the perils of a Mitt Romney presidency, the administration hasn’t included the US Hispanic community.
According to the 2012 Census figures, Hispanics led all ethnic groups in total percentage of uninsureds. That’s why the administration banked on having huge numbers of Hispanics sign up under Obamacare.
What happened was quite the opposite. The administration missed their targets for Latino enrollment into Obamacare by more than 30 %. Going into Obamacare, 29% of all Hispanics were without healthcare coverage.
What people forget is that Hispanics had even more problems than other groups in trying to sign up at healthcare.gov. First off, if you thought the English version of healthcare.gov had problems, you haven’t seen anything until you’ve taken a look at the Spanish version. It was absolutely atrocious and took even longer to fix than the English version. Getting the Spanish language version of healthcare.gov online for the Latino community wasn’t as high as a priority as getting the English version online and active.
In addition, the administration didn’t have enough guides educating Latinos on the ACA, which led to the disappointing, sign up numbers. For other Latino families, some feared entering their private information into a federal database and being harassed by immigration authorities and having family members potentially deported.
The reality is that when Obamacare is fully implemented we will start to see employers hire less at lower wages, significantly impacting the Latino community. President Obama needs to pay attention to the Latino community. They are more than just a voting demographic needed during a presidential reelection. Hispanics represent a vibrant part of our nation that must be embraced and welcomed into our melting pot.
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