TUCSON, Ariz. - More Latinos have healthcare coverage following the second enrollment period of the Affordable Care Act, according to a new national poll.
The poll from Latino Decisions, a political opinion research firm, shows that the ACA has decreased the percentage of Latinos without health insurance from 28 to 17 percent in the past two years.
Melissa Stafford Jones is with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She said there is not enough state level data on ethnicity to assess Latino enrollment in Arizona. However, Jones emphasized the efforts in outreach to this population during the most recent enrollment period.
“There was a significant effort this year to really increase Spanish language availability; in terms of the call centering, in terms of in-person assistance,” she said.
She said Arizona saw a 70 percent increase in insurance coverage overall from the first enrollment period in 2013.
The national poll shows outreach, cost and navigating the marketplace remain challenges among Latinos. Latino Decisions also pointed out a significant gap in insurance coverage based on birthplace; 87 percent of U.S. born Latinos said they had coverage compared to 78 percent of foreign born.
