Cultivating Latino Policymakers to Ensure Health Care for All

With over 53 million in the United States, and more than 50,000 gaining the right to vote each month, Latinos are becoming increasingly influential in the American political sphere. Democrats’ promises of reform in areas ranging from immigration to health care have led to consistent political support from the Latino community.  President Barak Obama rode this wave of support through two general elections, signing the Affordable Care Act into law in order to answer calls for equity in medicine. Yet the minority groups that supported President Obama throughout his political career, Latinos amongst them, have not had their needs met.

Even when the law was first signed, the ACA was fraught with exclusions for millions of Latinos. For instance, the issue of undocumented immigrants was so politically charged that they were intentionally left out of the bill. Because of this, even those who earn enough money will not be allowed to purchase a plan in the insurance exchanges. Millions more fully documented Latinos lost their chance at coverage when the Supreme Court decided that the Medicaid expansion was an unlawful coercion of the states. Now, with 21 states rejecting the Medicaid expansion, nearly a quarter of uninsured Latinos will fall in the dreaded “Medicaid gap”, left without access to public or private sources of insurance.

How did Latino health advocates allow this to happen? While most contend that politics is politics and compromises must be made, some argue that our representatives merely lack the political fortitude to negotiate the complex issues that affect our patients and their families. Thus, as Latino health advocates, physicians, and concerned citizens, we must promote our patients’ interests by finding brave new leaders.

Great potential exists in the thousands of aspiring Latino health professionals currently rising through America’s medical schools. These are the intelligent, powerful, yet compassionate individuals that have witnessed with their own eyes the effects that poorly conceived policies have on their families. They should be the ones sitting at the negotiation tables. For who could better articulate the injustice of a state rejecting the Medicaid expansion than the daughter of parents who fall into the Medicaid gap?

In light of the recent failures in the ACA, the need for passionate and informed Latino health advocates has never been more apparent. The Latino Medical Student Association is taking this message to heart and will debut its new Student Policy Section this March in Washington, DC . Students and medical professionals of all ethnicities will meet to provide the networking, mentoring and academic resources necessary to train the future physician leaders of the Latino community. By preparing our youth, Latinos and other marginalized groups can ensure that future health reform in our country will address still-growing disparities in medicine.