WASHINGTON, April 23, 2013 -- About one-third of Latinos or 15 million people will be seeking new doctors for diabetes, hypertension, cancer and preventive services when they become eligible to receive or buy health care coverage under the new health care reform law, the Affordable Care Act (ACA). As the nation's Latino doctors come together this week for the 17th Annual Conference of the National Hispanic Medical Association, the implementation of the ACA and ensuring access to the benefits of the new law for Hispanic patients will be at the forefront of the agenda. The conference opens Friday, April 27 th at 9:00 am at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC.
"Having doctors who can inform Latino families how to live more healthy is our goal," National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA) President & CEO, Dr. Elena Rios stated, "and we will be planning how to work with our partners to enroll more Latinos in insurance this fall."
About one in three of the 50 million Hispanics in the US have been consistently uninsured due to prohibitive costs and working for small businesses that also found costs too high to stay in business.
A recent Health Affairs study reports that 7 million Americans could face primary care physician shortage as the new health care reform law, the Affordable Care Act, increases health insurance coverage. On October 1 st, thousands of uninsured individuals and small businesses will be able to enroll in the new State Health Insurance Marketplaces with new tax credits on their income taxes next year for affordable health care insurance. The demand for primary care, dental care, mental health care and prevention screening and counseling is projected to be on the rise.
At this year's Annual Conference of the NHMA, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will share with 500 doctors and advocates how to build practices into patient-centered medical homes with new preventive care from teams of doctors and nurses in poor areas that are now considered the most medically underserved in the country. NHMA will unveil its new logo and 2013 campaigns to recruit college students to medical school and to inform the Latino community on health reform with Univision, Fusion (new Univision/ABC news channel), NBC, MundoFox, CNN en Espanol, Latina Style Magazine, ImpreMedia, and the National Association of Hispanic Publications. For a complete agenda of the conference proceedings, please visit: www.nhmamd.org
Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin will be speaking at the Conference Awards Dinner, on Saturday, April 27 th at 7:30 PM. In her remarks, she will discuss obesity among children and recommendations from NHMA New York and California summits on obesity. Awards for leadership will be given to Dr. Gail Christopher and Luz Benitez-Delgado of the Kellogg Foundation, Daniel Suvor of HHS, Chet Burrell of Care First BlueCross BlueShield, former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, Dr. Manuel De La Rosa, Dr. Carlos Sanchez, Dr. Ana Maria Lopez, and national and state Hispanic health association leaders.
Supporters of the event include Eli Lilly, United HealthCare, Care First, AAMC, Maximus, Pfizer, GSK, MedImmune, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, PhRMA, Abbott, Aetna, Verizon and Walmart.
NHMA is a nonprofit association based in Washington, DC with the mission to improve the health of Hispanics. See www.nhmamd.org for more information.