Archive for May 2024

Advocates are developing community-based strategies to ensure that Latinos understand the insurance options available through the Affordable Care Act. Though they make up roughly a third of the state’s population, Latinos account for nearly two-thirds of the more than 6 million Texans without health insurance. As a result, proponents of the Affordable Care Act in…

By Suzanne Gamboa AUSTIN, Texas — As she and her staff have tried to get Latinos in underserved communities to respond to the census, Jill Ramirez, president and CEO of the Latino HealthCare Forum, has been asking them what they know about coronavirus. “In speaking with people, many don’t really understand what an infectious disease…

The barriers and gaps to vaccine equity involve more than just physical and digital distance. Last week, Sendero Health Plans – the nonprofit health insurer created by Central Health, the taxing district that also provides funding to CommUnityCare and UT Health Austin – released a study exploring concerns and hesitations among its members about getting…

The Texas vaccine allocation program overseen by DSHS has, at least until now, been unable to provide enough doses to meet local demand and need, even with rationing measures to limit eligibility to high-priority groups. With three vaccines now authorized and available, including the new Johnson & Johnson jab that only requires one shot, and…

“There’s a lot of conversations right now about the inequities with the vaccine, but the inequity started a long time ago,” says Paul Saldaña. Last spring, the veteran organizer and politico, formerly an Austin ISD trustee and a top aide to late Mayor Gus Garcia, reactivated the local nonprofit Austin Latino Coalition, which he co-founded…

A group that enrolls Latinos for Obamacare is finding it must tiptoe through new challenges in the Trump era. AUSTIN, Texas – The Latino HealthCare Forum has been handing out two seemingly similar fliers to alert area Hispanics to sign up for Obamacare. But there are some differences. The ones they are distributing in surrounding conservative communities…