Before health care reform:

Small business needs:…it was difficult for a small organization like ours with only 3 employees at the time to find affordable health insurance packages.

Workforce: it was difficult to find funding to hire community health workers to serve our community.

Before health care reform, I can barely remember the days when I still had insurance. From early on, going to the doctor's was seen as something was very commonplace; even to the point where we were on a first name basis with the doctor. One day though, when our family didn't qualify for governmental insurance, we found ourselves foregoing quality over economy. The number of doctors changed as often as the seasons, and price was always weighing heavily on our minds.

For Immediate Release
February 10, 2012

Washington, DC – The Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF) welcomed today’s announcement by President Obama that he is committed to ensuring that all women have access to preventive health care, including contraception.

Under today’s announcement, most employers will be required to provide insurance coverage for preventive health services, at no cost, including all FDA-approved contraceptives.

For Immediate Release
February 8, 2012

San Francisco, CA – The Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF) welcomed yesterday’s decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, ruling that California’s Proposition 8 is unconstitutional. Proposition 8 is California’s voter-backed constitutional amendment that banned gay marriage in the state.

For Immediate Release
January 31, 2012

Washington, D.C. – The Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF) commends the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) recent decision requiring insurance coverage for a range of women’s preventive health services, including birth control, at no cost.

“The new rule is a victory for millions of women who will now have access to contraception and other preventive health services and supplies, without expensive cost-sharing,” said Kathy Lim Ko, APIAHF president and CEO.

For Immediate Release
January 19, 2012

Washington, D.C. – The Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum’s (APIAHF) Policy Director, Priscilla Huang and Policy Analyst, Paulo Pontemayor received the Families USA’s inaugural Health Equity Advocate Award tonight during the Families USA Health Action 2012 conference, in recognition of their commitment and advocacy toward achieving health equity for all. Families USA is a national nonprofit organization working to advance high-quality, affordable health care.

For Immediate Release
November 9, 2011

WASHINGTON, DC – Yesterday, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or health care reform, as the law is commonly known.

The largely conservative court held that the ACA’s individual mandate, the requirement that nearly all persons have health insurance, is within Congress’ powers. This decision uphold’s President Obama’s health care reforms that were signed into law last year.

For Immediate Release

November 1, 2011

WASHINGTON, DC – The Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF) applauds the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for their commitment to improving the collection and reporting of data on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders (AAs and NHPIs) and other minority communities.

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In Congress, the “super committee”—a bi-partisan panel of 12 lawmakers—is debating how to cut $1.2 trillion from the federal budget over the next ten years. Severe reductions in Medicaid funding have been put at the top of their cut list. We must urge our Senators and Representatives to take a balanced approach to reducing the deficit and reject proposals that hurt the most vulnerable members of our community.

Medicaid provides a safety net for 850,000 Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander children, 180,000 elders, and many members of our community with disabilities.