How will changes to Obamacare affect Latinos?

What will happen with Obamacare? Is it going to be replaced or repealed? It is hard to predict.

Not knowing how the law will be changed and the possibility that Congress and President Trump will repeal it without an adequate replacement has people worried.

That includes those whose health requires a wide range of services and treatment — people who weren't able to get medical insurance before the Affordable Care Act due to preexisting medical conditions, as well as low-income individuals and families. My focus for my project is the Latino community that will be affected by the upcoming national policy and political changes.

My reporting approach will emerge from any changes to the ACA. I plan to build the story about an individual or a family who may face struggles with the upcoming changes.

Additionally, I will examine whether there is a language barrier within the health care system in California. Are Spanish-speaking patients able to communicate adequately with their health care provider? What is being done to increase the number of Latino physicians in California?

For my 2017 California Fellowship project I will be working closely with Prof. Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, director of the UC Davis Center for Reducing Health Disparities. Aguilar-Gaxiola helped produce the Latino physicians report, a report that states that approximately 29 percent of Californians speak Spanish at home but less than 20 percent of the state’s physicians speak Spanish.

I will also reach out to Dr. José Arévalo, chairman of Latino Physicians of California, as well as advocacy groups pushing for new and better preparatory programs for young Latinos and financial assistance for medical school.

[Photo by Fernando Valenzuela via Flickr.]