NHMA Supports Healthcare Reform
March 17, 2010
President Obama
The White House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi
U.S. House of Representatives
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
U.S. Senate
Dear President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Senator Reid:
On behalf of the National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA), we strongly support health care reform legislation because we believe it will address many of our long-standing policy priorities to improve the health status for Hispanics and other underserved.
The NHMA convened its “National Hispanic and Health Disparities Leadership Summit Series” with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and 300 stakeholders in California, New York and Texas in 2008. We presented the consensus priorities for three priority areas - Access to Health Care, Prevention of Obesity and Diabetes, and Diversity in the HealthCare Professions - to Senator Kennedy’s initial health care reform meetings in August 2008, to the Senate and Congressional leaders, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Asian Pacific Islander Caucus, and to the Obama White House staff.
We strongly support health care reform with affordable universal insurance coverage that is paid for with a shared responsibility approach and incentives for small business;
We strongly support the transformation of a health system that centers on community prevention, public health and integrative care with a national strategy that includes the US DHHS Office of Minority Health leadership;
We strongly support the focus on the outreach and education to underserved and uninsured communities, especially Hispanics, the largest ethnic group in the nation and by the year 2042 will be one out of four Americans, with culturally and linguistically appropriate services;
We strongly support the development of a more robust primary care and public health workforce with diversity programs to recruit Hispanic students and faculty, Hispanic health professional leadership programs, and cultural competence and health care workforce training programs ---to all health care students and providers;
We strongly support the health team approach and patient centered care and improved quality care for racial/ethnic populations in our urban and rural communities and along the U.S.-Mexico border and in the territories;
We strongly support a more efficient system, including data collection, comparative effectiveness research, health IT, quality measures, guidelines that include racial/ethnic and primary language indicators and a Hispanic population focus;
We strongly support appointing Hispanics to the leadership of the Federal government agencies impacting health care, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and other health related agencies.
In summary, the National Hispanic Medical Association strongly supports health care reform legislation because we believe it will improve the health status for Hispanics and all Americans.
We are urging all national Hispanic health professional associations, the Hispanic medical societies, and their members to support health care reform.
Sincerely,
Elena Rios, MD, MSPH
President & CEO, NHMA
Cc: Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez
Congresswoman Lucille Roybal Allard
Congressman Xavier Becerra
Congressman Charles Gonzalez
Congressman Raul Grijalva
Congresswoman Donna Christensen
Congressman Mike Honda
Congressman Henry Waxman
Congressman Dennis Miller
Congressman Charles Rangel
Congressman Pete Stark
Senator Tom Harkin
Senator Max Baucus
Senator Robert Menendez
Senator Christopher Dodd
Senator Jeff Bingaman
Senator Barbara Mikulski
All other Congressmen and Senators
Past Letters
NHMA Supports Healthcare Reform--May 21, 2010
Dr. Interviewed by Washington Post in Healthcare, Immigration Debate--November 13, 2009
OMH and NHMA Report on Health Disparities and Hispanic Leadership Summit--August 12, 2009
Federal Coordinating Committee on Comparative Effectiveness Research Listening Session, Comment from NHMA-- April 14, 2009
NHMA Community Discussion on Health Reform--May 28, 2009
Hispanic & Health Disparities Summit Series Recommendation Power Point--2008
Federal Health Policy-- 2008
Letter to House on SCHIP Reauthorization--January 13, 2009
Letter to House to Support Medicare Prescription Drug Negotiations Act of 2007 H.R.4--February 8, 2007
Cultural Competence: A Critical Component to Address Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities for Women--July 1, 2005
NHMA Opposes Section 1011 of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, PL 108-173: Federal Reimbursement of Emergency Health Services Furnished to Undocumented Aliens--August 1, 2004
NHMA Support the Healthcare Equality and Accountability Act--March 1, 2004
NHMA Support the Healthcare Equality and Accountability Act--March 1, 2004
NHMA Supports Closing the Healthcare Gap Act- S.2091--March 1, 2004
Comments on NIH Strategic Research Plan and Budget to Reduce and Ultimately Eliminate Disparities in Health, 2002-2006--January 1, 2004
Limited English Proficiency Guidance Comments--December 1, 2003
Opposition to Medicare Conference Agreement--November 1, 2003
Medicare Action Alert--August 1, 2003
Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute--September 1, 2002
Hispanic Health Act Review--September 1, 2002
Letter to Congressman, Budget for Centers of Excellence Program and other Health Professions--September 1, 2001
