NLIRH Rally for Health!
March 27, 2012
Supreme Court of the United States
On Tuesday, March 27, the National Latina Institute for Reproductive 
Health (NLIRH) along with our poderosa activists from NYC rallied at the Supreme Court of the United States to stand for health care!
On March 26, 27 and 28, the Supreme Court heard arguments regarding the constitutionality of the law’s major provisions. And poderosa activists were there chanting “Yo! Quiero! Obamacare!” to show their support for the law that has the potential to increase meaningful access to quality and affordable health care for millions of Latinas and their families.
Check out the below video taken by Kara Ryan at National Council of La Raza (NCLR) about what health reform means for Latinas. Kara, who is a Senior Research Analyst with NCLR’s Health Policy Project, also reflect on her favorite day of the Supreme Court arguments in her blog post here.
20 Days of ACA Blog Series
March, 2012
NLIRH Blog, Nuestra Vida, Nuestra Voz
Throughout March, we brought you the blog series, 20 Days of ACA: Lifting Latina Voices for Health Reform. Each post focused on one provision of the health reform law, or Affordable Care Act, and how that provision has and will benefit Latinas and their families. Each post also featured a photo of one of our supporters and activists sharing their reasons for supporting health reform.
Here is a re-cap of our posts:
- No co-pays for preventive health care services like cervical cancer screening, pregnancy care, STI/HIV screenings, domestic violence screening and contraception will reduce barriers to care for Latinas.
- Increased support for community health centers and the promotora de salud model means more health care and wellness promotion in underserved communities.
- Nearly 6 million Latinos will gain coverage to health care through Medicaid due to new eligibly rule and 736,000 young Latinos have gained coverage by staying on their parents’ health insurance plan.
- The National Prevention Council and National Prevention Strategy and a number of initiatives from the Department of Health and Human Services represent our country’s first coordinated roadmap to reducing racial and ethnic health disparities.
- Access to health care insurance will be expanded through the Affordable Insurance “Exchanges” and private health insurance will be more meaningful for Latinas and their families due to a number of consumer protections, like prohibiting discrimination on the basis pre-existing conditions and removing annual and lifetime caps on care.
- New standards on data collection will create greater awareness of Latinos’ health care needs and efforts to increase and diversify the health care workf orce will address the need for more health care workers of color working in communities where Latinos live.
- Health reform is also a step forward for the the health of LGBTQ Latinas, as Medicaid expansion, new data collection standards and protections for those with pre-existing conditions will address unique barriers to care faced by LGBTQ people.
- And last, but certainly not least, coverage for maternity care represent a great step forward for Latinas’ health.
ACA Second Anniversary
March 23, 2012
And last but not least, just a few days before the Supreme Court began its review of the Affordable Care Act, the historic legislation celebrated its second birthday. On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed the health reform bill into law.
And NLIRH celebrated by releasing a press statement and joining 180 other local, state, and national health equity and civil rights advocates in thanking the Obama Administration for their continuing dedication to health equity and in celebrating what the health reform law does to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities.
And finally, our fabulous Executive Director, Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas shared her reflections in the piece, The Affordable Care Act: Hope for Health Care Equality for All in RH Reality Check.
NLIRH will continue to advocate for the law’s funding and implementation, so be sure to stay tuned for more information and ways to take action to support the ACA!
