The Obama administration has made it their mission to attract Latinos to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enrollment marketplace; hosting outreach events, launching Obamacare health fairs and releasing Spanish-language advertisements -- all with the promise of assisting the demographic that claims the highest number of uninsured individuals in the nation. However, there have been ongoing enrollment obstacles for those who seek coverage -- particularly for individuals who speak little to no English.

The marketplace, or the Medicaid network, continues to fail when it comes to providing information in the native languages of many of its potential patrons. Navigators are not only asked to offer up their personal information to the impersonal portal, but must submit their personal information to one that is confusing, often inaccessible and in foreign script. The Spanish-language version of the site is "full of glitches...[has] clunky translations and grammatical errors." However, Myra Alvarez, head of the federal government's Office of Minority Health, says the website is working and people are using it.

"I will admit that sometimes, as with any website or any product, there are -- there may be typos, there may be errors. And when we become aware of them, and we make sure that they are errors, we work as quickly as possible to get them corrected," Alvarez stated.

More than 10 million uninsured Latinos are legal residents and eligible for healthcare, yet many are reluctant to sign up for Obamacare for reasons that have little to do with language barriers and glitches. Alvarez indicated that many don't sign up because they have undocumented relatives, and they fear exposing a family member's status. However, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Department clarified in an official statement, those who offer their information to Healthcare.gov will not have it used for "immigration enforcement purposes."

Some have made the claim that "muddying the water" tactic is done in order to align Latinos with "conservatives who want the Affordable Care Act to fail." An ad in Florida featured a Latino physician stating, "This law does not put patients first. My patients ask if I will continue to provide care for them. And it pains me to say I don't have an answer..." The same ad asks Democratic Florida Congressman Joe Garcia about his support of Obamacare and he responded, saying that it is important to hold "elected leaders who are still in support of this law accountable," a statement that he hoped would urge conversation in the Hispanic community. He also stated that the bad system offers bureaucrats more power and lessens the quality of care.

The League of United American Citizen, or LULAC, is working aggressively to enroll members of the Latino community. Luis Torres, who is connected with LULAC, says that misinformation regarding coverage makes it difficult for the 10.2 million Latinos who are uninsured and only "one medical emergency away from being bankrupt."

Related