Call your Senators and Representative!

Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (AAs and NHPIs) need quality affordable health care. One in six Asian Americans and one in four Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are uninsured. Even with coverage, AAs and NHPIs experience disparities in health outcomes and quality of care.

Please urge the CA State Assembly to pass SB 549. The legislation would authorize the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology (BBC), the state agency responsible for overseeing the licensure of the beauty industry, to collect language, gender, and ethnicity data from those applying for BBC licenses or renewing existing licenses.

Please tell your CA State Senator to urge their colleagues on the Senate Appropriations Committee to support AB 23. The legislation will repeal the mid-year status report requirement for children enrolled in Medi-Cal, enabling California to obtain enhanced federal Medicaid matching funds from The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Tell your U.S. Representative to urge their colleagues on the Energy and Commerce, Education and Labor, and Ways and Means Committees to support legislation that provides affordable health care for all Americans and allows everyone to participate in our health care system.

Tell your CA State Senator to urge their colleagues on the Senate Appropriations Committee to support reducing health disparities by passing ACR 29. The legislations would reduce health disparities by requesting that the California Health and Human Services Agency provide leadership to ensure that, within existing resources and programs, departments within the agency implement programs, activities, and strategies place a priority focus on preventing, reducing, and eliminating health disparities among racial and ethnic population subgroups.

 

Please call the Governor and legislative leaders in California to urge them to support revenue increases as part of the budget solution. The proposed budget cuts to vital programs and services would be detrimental to the state's residents especially Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (AA and NHPI).

Tell your CA State Senator to urge their colleagues on the Senate Governmental Organization Committee to support emergency services for populations with limited English proficiency by passing AB 611. The legislation would require the Secretary of California Emergency Management to consider the needs of limited English population in situations related to emergency preparedness planning, response and recovery training.

Tell your U.S. Senators to urge their colleagues on the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee to oppose Amendment #84 to the Affordable Health Choices Act. This amendment does not reflect the Ryan White Working Group Community Consensus Document recommendation sendorsed by over 240 HIV/AIDS organizations and would have a negative impact on health care access for people living with HIV/AIDS if passed in its current form.

Tell your CA State Senator to urge their collegues on the Senate Health Committee to pass SB 600. The legislation will help to decrease the number of preventable tobacco-related deaths in  Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AA and NHPI) communities and generate $1.45 billion in revenue for our state.

Tell your CA State Assembly Member to urge their colleagues on the Assembly Health Committee to support fair pricing for emergency room services by passing AB 1503. The legislation would limit the amount that emergency room physicians and surgeons can charge an uninsured patient with an income less than 350% of the Federal Poverty Level.

Tell your CA State Senator to urge their colleagues on the Senate Health Committee to expand the Healthy Families Program by passing Senate Bill 1. The legislation would expand public health insurance to all children in California and ensure a healthy future for our kids.

Tell your U.S. Senators to urge their colleagues on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to support legislation that allows everyone to participate in our health care system. There are nearly 47 million Americans who are uninsured, including one in six Asian Americans and one in four Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

Tell your U.S. Senators to urge their colleagues  on Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to support policies that provide affordable quality health care for all Americans. Urge them to include adequate funding for health and health care services that are culturally competent and provide language acesss to accommodate everyone's health care needs. This includes funding for hospitals and health care providers to hire bilingual staff and translations of educational materials.

Tell Governor Schwarzenegger and the California State Legislature's leadership that there must be a balance between cuts and revenues. Everyone must do their share to resolve the state's budget crisis so that the Golden State can live up to it's nickname. Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed a cuts-only budget to balance California's $23.4 billion deficit. In these difficult economic times, Asian American, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders cannot weather further cuts to critical safety net services and programs.

Urge your U.S. Senators to support S. 982, The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. Despite their harmful effects on our health, tobacco products are virtually unregulated. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can regulate fast food, but not a pack of cigarettes.  S. 982 would protect public health by ending this double standard and allowing the FDA to regulate tobacco products.