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Helping AAPI Immigrants and Refugees in Pennsylvania Get Covered

Summary: 
Amy Jones is being honored as a Health in the AAPI Community Champion of Change.

Amy Jones

Amy Jones is being honored as a Health in the AAPI Community Champion of Change.

The Affordable Care Act provided a long-awaited opportunity for many Americans to finally get affordable health insurance. With over 50,000 uninsured Asian Americans, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) living in Pennsylvania, 45% of whom lived in Philadelphia, the Affordable Care Act was a turning point for our communities. However, we also anticipated that due to language barriers, low-literacy, confusion about the policy and application process, limited computer skills, and lack of someone who spoke their language to provide in-person enrollment support, many immigrants/refugees would be unaware of the Affordable Care Act and how it would impact them.

In the winter of 2013, SEAMAAC was awarded a grant to engage partner organizations and Asian immigrant/refugee community members around the issue of health care access and health insurance enrollment in Philadelphia. In the spring, we began reaching out to community-based organizations (CBO), faith-based organizations and leaders, local and national advocacy organizations, health care providers, community leaders, small businesses, and physicians, professors, and students from local universities to prepare for the first Open Enrollment Period. Over the summer, we worked with this group to conduct an assessment to gauge the communities’ awareness of the Affordable Care Act, their questions, and their suggestions for outreach, education, and enrollment support. We used a literature review, focus groups, and key informant interviews to conduct this assessment.

The results of this community assessment helped us design appropriate enrollment and community education/outreach strategies. SEAMAAC and partners created outreach and education materials (translated into Chinese, Vietnamese, Laotian, Nepali, Indonesian, Burmese, Karen, and Chin). We worked closely with Nationalities Services Center, to design educational workshops that other CBOs and leaders could use in their communities. From October 2013 to March 2014, SEAMAAC staff conducted 16 Community workshops educating over 700 immigrant/refugee community members. We have educated almost 1,300 community members through general community outreach, and nearly 30,000 through media sources.

In the fall, SEAMAAC became a Certified Application Counselor (CAC) Organization. However, we knew that we could not help enroll everyone by ourselves. In collaboration with Jefferson University and Nationalities Services Center, we conducted a CAC Training for bilingual staff and community leaders ensuring that there were CACs in Philadelphia bilingual in English and Mandarin, Vietnamese, Khmer, Indonesian, Laotian, Hmong, Thai, Nepali, Burmese, Karen, and Chin. SEAMAAC and partners also engaged local Navigator organizations to ensure that they held office hours in immigrant and refugee communities. Throughout Open Enrollment, SEAMAAC CACs and Navigators groups assisted over 450 immigrant/refugee families apply for health insurance through the Marketplace.

Amy Jones is the Director of Health & Social Services for Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Association Coalition (SEAMAAC), Inc.