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The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is scheduled to hear oral arguments this March on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Court is expected to issue its decision in mid-June 2012. Various organizations, including APIAHF, have or will file amicus curiae (or “friend of the Court”) briefs, which are permitted to bring to the attention of the Court relevant matters that may be of help to the Court, but not already brought to its attention by the parties.
The reforms under the Affordable Care Act will provide coverage to countless uninsured and underinsured Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AAs and NHPIs). Nearly one in seven AAs and NHPIs are uninsured. The expanded Medicaid program, new Health Insurance Exchanges, the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (also known as the High Risk Pools), the Small Business Health Options Program Exchange, and the extension of coverage for young adults to remain on their parent’s health plan until age 26, offers our communities new options for affordable, quality care.
This article from Health Reform GPS explains each of the four issues that the Supreme Court will decide:
- The constitutionality of the individual coverage requirement.
- Whether the individual coverage requirement can be severed from the rest of the Act.
- Whether the Medicaid expansion is unconstitutionally coercive.
- Whether the Anti-Injunction Act bars consideration of the individual coverage requirement.
In this succinct piece in the New England Journal of Medicine, professors Sara Rosenbaum and Timothy Jost explain the claims brought before the Court by Florida and 25 other states, claiming that “the ACA “coerces” them into expanding their Medicaid programs to cover all adults with incomes below 133% of the poverty level by making their receipt of any and all federal Medicaid funding conditional on such an expansion.” The authors conclude that “from a legal perspective, nothing about this latest Medicaid expansion is different from past expansions,” and do not believe that the Court will overturn this provision of the ACA. All Heat, No Light — The States' Medicaid Claims before the Supreme Court
For a more in-depth analysis of the legal issues, see this series of articles at SCOTUS Blog, and stay tuned there for updates as the oral arguments take place, and for commentary with a health disparities and racial equity lens, see this article authored by the Council of La Raza at the blog of the American Constitution Society, “The Challenges to Health Care Reform, a Dangerous New Chapter in an Old Story”.
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The Office of Women’s Health presents the 2011 Health Disparities Profiles. The data resource examines key health indicators at the state level for different racial and ethnic populations in each of the 50 states, D.C. and includes the territories of Guam and Puerto Rico. Twenty-two health indicators are presented across key areas related to health disparities among different populations. The tool also ranks the states and juxtaposes the indicators with the national Healthy People 2020 target. These profiles can be used as a reference for policymakers and advocates to identify areas where major health disparities exist in each state.
The data are also available at the county level by searching the user-friendly database. The system provides state- and county-level data for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories and jurisdictions. Data are available by gender, race and ethnicity—including disaggregated Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander categories—and come from a variety of national and state sources. The system is organized into eleven main categories, including demographics, mortality, natality, reproductive health, violence, prevention, disease and mental health. Within each main category, there are numerous subcategories. The user can select the variables and demographics of interest for comparison across a number of years.
The Immigration Policy Center offers a set of infographics and 50 state factsheets on the Economic and Political Impact of Immigrants, Latinos and Asians State by State. The fact sheets and infographics are a synthesis of current government and academic data which highlight the growing economic and political power of immigrants, Latinos, and Asians in each of the 50 states, including information such as population size, business ownership, purchasing power, and number of voters.
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