News

By John L. Micek | As our friends at Stateline.org report, the White House wants to relax an Obama-era rule “requiring that medical providers let patients know about their right to language interpretation services — and for people with disabilities, communication assistance such as qualified sign language interpreters or written information in alternative formats for the visually impaired. The administration insists that the current requirements are onerous and costly for providers.”

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By Michael Ollove | Ed Zuroweste, a family practitioner in south central Pennsylvania, got a call a couple of years ago from a nearby hospital in Chambersburg. A restaurant worker, newly arrived from Guatemala, had staggered into the emergency room a few days before with severe shortness of breath and coughing up blood.

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By Kathy Ko Chin | On Monday, Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services appallingly altered Emma Lazarus’ iconic 1883 poem, “The New Colossus,” at the base of the Statue of Liberty. The poem begins with the phrase, “Give me your tired and your poor” to which Cuccinelli glibly added “who can stand on their two feet and who will not become a public charge.” While Lady Liberty has stood as a beacon of freedom and hope for new immigrants to this country, Cuccinelli reminds us that there have always been discriminatory terms and conditions that determine those who are deemed eligible for this freedom.

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By Big Island Now | The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA) issued a statement on Thursday, Aug. 15, 2019, in response to the Department of Homeland Security final public charge rule.

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By Sunita Sohrabji | U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Aug. 12 that it has finalized the controversial ‘public charge rule,’ which denies permanent status to immigrants who have received federal aid and benefits or are likely to do so in the future.

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By Kathy Ko Chin | Three years ago, I argued that meaningful health care access cannot be achieved unless the federal government takes action to improve services for limited-English speakers, particularly in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces. As I noted then, Section 1557 of the ACA makes clear that language should not be a barrier to accessing health coverage or services. But a new proposal from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), however, would only serve to increase barriers.

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Office of Mazie K. Hirono | Jul 25, 2019 [On Wednesday], Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) reintroduced the Covering our FAS Allies Act, which would reinstate Medicaid coverage, also known as Med-QUEST in Hawaii, for citizens of the Freely Associated States (FAS) living in the United States under the Compacts of Free Association (COFA).

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By Jennie L. Ilustre | The House of Representatives in the 118th U.S. Congress has passed The Dream and Promise Act, with features from past proposed legislation, as well as new provisions.

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WASHINGTON, June 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — On June 11, 2019, the Society for Public Health Education sponsored a congressional briefing and panel discussion in celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the CDC’s Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) program. Since 1999, the REACH program has been at the forefront of efforts to address racial and ethnic health disparities through culturally-tailored interventions.

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OAKLAND, California, June 19 — The Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum issued the following news release: Today, Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) introduced the “Expand Navigators’ Resources for Outreach, Learning, and Longevity (ENROLL) Act” in the U.S. Senate. The ENROLL Act would restore funding to the Navigator program and allow Navigator grantees to better serve their communities by undoing recent regulatory attacks on the program.

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