Understanding the 2,000-plus page Affordable Care Act (ACA) is daunting for anyone. Imagine the challenges faced by insurers and states with potential clients who have language barriers. In California, where Blacks, Latinos and Asians are 60 percent of the population and 75 percent of uninsured people, language skills and cultural competence are critical.
A joint study by the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the UC Berkeley Labor Center found that two-thirds of the estimated 2.6 million adults who will become eligible for federal subsidies in California’s health-insurance exchange are Black, Latino or Asian, and 36 percent of those currently uninsured and expected to be covered under ACA have limited English proficiency.
While the ACA mandates that health plans be translated into appropriate languages in areas where 10 percent or more of the population speaks a language other than English, the bigger challenge is getting culturally competent information out to explain the new rules.
