Asian American and Pacific Islander Healthcare Platform
(click here to endorse the platform)
Increase Access to Healthcare
- Call for the end of restrictions on federal safety-net benefits (such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Medicaid) for all lawfully present immigrants, restoring fairness and equality to immigrants who pay taxes and contribute to our society.
- Continue the expansion the health care safety net through the Community Health Care Centers (CHCs) which are often the only option available to the uninsured.
- Improve the safety net provided by Medicaid with reforms that ensure that the program is still available for those that depend on it.
- Support legislation that provides simple parity between health insurance benefits for mental health and benefits provided for treating any other illness or injury.
- Fully fund the new Parent Corps substance abuse prevention program. Modeled after AmeriCorps, Parent Corps would create a national network composed of "Parent Leaders" who will work in their own neighborhoods to mobilize other parents to prevent teen substance.
Ensure Language Access
- Enforce civil rights law of the Title VI of the 1966 Civil Rights Act that guarantees meaningful access to government-funded healthcare services.
- Increase funding for language interpretation and translation in healthcare systems
- Increase funding for English acquisition courses for immigrants regardless of their date of entry.
Improve Research and Data Collection
- Increase data collection, analyses and dissemination of information about Asians Pacific Americans (AAPI), disaggregated by ethnic group.
- Increase funding for research on health conditions experienced by AAPIs and for research pipeline programs for aspiring scientists.
- Support the involvement of community-based organizations in this research and data collection.
Enrich the lives of AAPI seniors
- Support the restoration of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) eligibility for immigrants, regardless of when they entered the U.S.
- Provide affordable and equitable Medicare prescription drug benefits. (APIAHF medicare statement)
Improve Health by Focusing on the needs of AAPI Women
- Promote culturally competent and linguistically accessible health and human services, including family planning and community education on reproductive health for APA women and girls.
- Stop domestic violence by supporting reauthorization of the Violence against Women Act. Fully fund programs and services that address the special needs and barriers of APA women. This includes interpretation and translation services, and providing a safe harbor so that immigrant women with pending immigration relief applications can receive public benefits, food stamps, and housing.
- Support the economic empowerment of APA women with a welfare bill (TANF) that truly brings women and families out of poverty. English as a second language classes should be allowed for longer than the current three-month limit.
The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA), a coalition of national APA organizations including the APIAHF, issued A Call for Action: Platform for Asian Pacific Americans National Policy Priorities that seeks a call for action from the two political parties and presidential candidates on APA issues. APIAHF participated in this effort because our vision is a multicultural society where Asian American and Pacific Islander communities are included and represented in health, political, social, and economic areas and where there is social justice for all.
APIAHF participated in the writing of the health platform with assistance from the Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO), the National Asian American and Pacific Islander Mental Health Association (NAAPIMHA), and information from the National Asian Pacific American Family against Substance Abuse (NAPAFASA). We developed these policy priorities further by hosting an educational forum in San Francisco called Having Our Say and the National Conference entitled: “Voices from the Community”.
Call to Action: Platform for Asian Ameircan & Pacific Islanders National Policy Priorities
Reader’s Guide for the Healthcare Platform Areas
Introduction (pp1-3)
Press release: National APA Leaders Release Policy Priorities
Platform Topic 1
Empowering APAs to Overcome Poverty (pp20-21)
Primary and Mental Healthcare for All (pp28-31)
Platform Topic 2
The Door to America ’s Future: Language Access (pp55-57)
Platform Topic 3
Don’t Count APAs Out: Data Collection & Statistics (pp17-18)
Including APAs in the Federal Program (pp32-33)
Platform Topic 4
Enriching the Lives of APA Seniors (p19)
Platform Topic 5
Asian Pacific American Women
- Stopping Domestic Violence (p14)
- Marriage Broker Industry (pp15-16)
The full platform is available at www.ncapaonline.org.
