¡Buena Salud!
Dear friend:
This is an exciting time for health care in El Paso and in the country.
This morning we opened the Mano y Corazon Binational Conference of Multicultural Health Solutions.
This unique event, which has drawn hundreds of attendees, scores of speakers and dozen of presentations, combines professional training credit with interdisciplinary collaboration. Typically, such training credit, which is required for professional advancement, takes place in “silos,” where nurses train with nurses or social workers with social workers or physical therapists with physical therapists and so on. This approach, which not only provides credit but brings them all together, is the future of health care!
I’m very proud of the District 29 Advisory Committee on Health Care, which worked hard to organize the event with the El Paso Chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses.
You can view information on the event, and also view presentations, by clicking here.
Enroll El Paso
Also this morning, I attended a news conference today to discuss Enroll El Paso, the effort to ensure people know about their insurance options provided by the Health Insurance Exchanges that open Oct. 1.
I joined Mayra Alvarez, the Director of Public Health Policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, who will be the keynote speaker for the Mano y Corazon Conference dinner this evening, and members of the Enroll El Paso Coalition.
This is a critical issue in Texas and particularly in El Paso County, with more than 6 million uninsured in Texas, and about 180,000 in El Paso County. Those numbers show why we have to work hard to enroll people for insurance under the Affordable Care Act, and why we must continue to push Texas to expand Medicaid. The failure to do so has left a “coverage gap,” which affects more than 1 million adults who cannot afford insurance under the exchanges but cannot get Medicaid.
Still, it’s estimated that more than half the uninsured Texans will be able to purchase insurance through the marketplace, which already is reducing costs, with 2.6 million people receiving some help with the purchase.
You can find out more details through Enroll El Paso, whose mission is to educate and engage El Pasoans as they apply for and choose new insurance options. This collaborative is led by the United Way of El Paso County and consists of local government, education, business, faith-based, hospitals and other health care organizations. Click here for more information on Enroll El Paso. You also can call (915) 206-2121.
A healthy community
These events take place in a context of exciting developments in our community.
We are in the midst of a long-term investment in the Medical Center of the Americas, the growth of University Medical Center, plans for future hospitals and clinics in El Paso, and the designation of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso as a standalone university. All these developments make me more confident than ever in our community’s future health.
Sincerely,
