Healthcare.gov Website for LEP users
Despite the bumpy start of the newly launched HealthCare.gov website, not to mention the government shutdown, efforts to promote the Affordable Healthcare Act continue. President Obama has promised to offer 24-hour call centers to answer questions regarding new healthcare benefit options in 150 languages, as well as to launch the Spanish version of the website for Hispanic users.
In addition to the initial glitches in the system which are being worked out, providing timely multilingual support is also a priority. The original plan was to have the Spanish version website ready at the same time as the English one so that native Spanish speakers with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) would be able to access it immediately. The delay means that a significant portion of one of the nation’s largest racial/ethnic minority groups does not have access to pertinent information in a language in which they are adequately fluent. This is especially problematic for the large percentage of Hispanics who are not proficient in English that are currently uninsured or have inadequate health insurance.
The 24-hour multilingual call centers are also of primary importance if one considers that U.S. minorities make up almost half of all “millennials”, with Hispanics accounting for nearly 25% of this population. The total number of individuals with LEP in the U.S. has grown by 81% since 1990, with a relatively large presence in states like California, Texas, and New York. In a 2011 survey, there were 25.3 million individuals with LEP, both foreign-born and US-born, residing in the United States. In the past year this number has further increased. This means that if the new health care options provided by the Affordable Healthcare Act are to be accessible to non-native English speakers with LEP, successfully offering multilingual support is absolutely necessary.
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