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Obamacare a Hispanic success story: Column

Raul Reyes
USATODAY
Names of health care applicants are written on a board as they wait to enroll March 31 in Richmond, Calif.

Talk about seeing the glass half-empty. Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services released statistics on the racial and ethnic breakdown of Affordable Care Act sign-ups, generating a slew of negative headlines. "Obamacare's Hispanic enrollment is low," said The Washington Post. And the National Journal weighed in with "Why Hispanics didn't get Obamacare."

Not so fast. Although the Obama administration did not achieve its goal for Latinos enrollments, the full story is more complex. Given the structural obstacles to Hispanic sign-ups, problems with the rollout and relentless Republican opposition to the health law, Latino enrollment deserves to be seen in a positive light.

While 14.5% of people eligible to enroll in the federal marketplace were Latino, the Obama administration reached 10.7% of enrollees who identified as Hispanic. But the true number could be higher because a third of those who enrolled did not report their race/ethnicity.

The federal figures also do not count people who signed up for coverage through state exchanges, including those in New York and California, which have significant Hispanic populations. Nor do the federal figures include Latinos who qualified for the expansion of Medicaid. So even with incomplete data, it is safe to say that more Latinos are accessing health care than ever.

The Obama administration faced unique challenges in reaching out to Latinos. According to the Census Bureau, 29% of Hispanics were uninsured in 2012, making them the largest uninsured demographic. The average American has difficulty making sense of co-pays, deductibles and other insurance terminology. Imagine how difficult that is for people who have never had insurance, or for whom English is a second language. The government has a Spanish-language version of its health insurance website, yet like its English-language counterpart it was plagued by problems. Its initial rollout was delayed by a couple of months, and then it was dogged by criticism that it was written in "Spanglish."

In addition, many Latinos with undocumented family members had reservations about sharing personal information with the federal government, for fear it could be used against their relatives.

Despite these hurdles, hundreds of thousands of Hispanics enrolled in Obamacare. Consider that roughly one-third of sign-ups in Texas were Latinos, as were nearly 20% of enrollees in Florida. Or that these were both states with Republican governors who did not promote the new law, or set up state exchanges.

Sure, like other Americans, Hispanics are divided about the new law. A March report by the Pew Research Center found that 47% of Hispanics view the law favorably while an equal number view it unfavorably. The split is not surprising, given the GOP attacks on Obamacare. Yet as more Latinos access health care, they will spread the word about the benefits of the law.

In fact, one of the most vocal opponents of the law, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., signed himself and his family up for Obamacare last year, taking advantage of a generous subsidy available to federal lawmakers and their staff members. If even a Tea Party lawmaker realizes that Obamacare offers a better deal than private insurance, it's time to acknowledge that the new law is a winner.

The enrollment numbers represent a historic breakthrough for the Hispanic community. The Obama administration has taken a first step toward providing better health outcomes, longer lives and greater peace of mind for Latinos. And that, unquestionably, is big news.

Raul Reyes is an attorney in New York and a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors.

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