HispanicBusiness

Hispanic leaders and advocates expressed a range of opinions, from applause to dismay, regarding the landmark passage of the healthcare reform bill in late March.

The bill, approved by Congress in a 219-212 vote after weeks of wheeling and dealing, will provide coverage to an estimated 32 million uninsured people, and cost about $938 billion over ten years. President Barack Obama signed the bill two days later.

Although an independent study has concluded it will reduce the federal deficit, the bill has sparked controversy. Republicans were unanimous in their disapproval, and within 24 hours of its passage on March 20, attorneys general from 11 states vowed to file suit against the federal government.

As it stands, roughly 45 million people in the United States are uninsured, about a third of them Hispanic.

Officials from the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce called the bill "flawed but necessary."

"We need real solutions now, because our businesses in the most literal sense cannot afford to wait," David Ferreira, vice president for government affairs at the chamber, told HispanicBusiness Magazine.

Small business help
Chamber officials say rising healthcare costs have created a crisis for small businesses, which have been forced to shoulder surging rate hikes to the tune of 9 percent annually over the past decade. What's worse, small businesses -- with their smaller risk pools -- suffer from less buying power on the open market, and so pay on average 18 percent more in premiums than larger companies.

The end result, chamber officials say, is a major drop in the proportion of small businesses offering benefits -- from two-thirds to 59 percent between 2000 and 20007.

"And this trend has only worsened in the current economy," said Javier Palomarez, the chamber's president and CEO.

The health care bill will allow small businesses to pool their risks in insurance exchanges. It also will provide tax credits for businesses with fewer than 50 employees offering benefits.

This would apply to 98 percent of all this nation's Hispanic-owned businesses, which tend to be small, Mr. Ferreira said.

Meanwhile, although the approved bill has given Democrats across the country cause to celebrate, the nation's largest Hispanic advocacy group -- the progressive National Council of La Raza -- is still taking a wait-and-see stance.

That's because NCLR has long considered the Senate bill that passed insufficient. As of press time, the group was pinning its hopes on a reconciliation bill of proposed amendments.

Under the recently signed Senate bill, for instance, newly legalized immigrants would be forced to pay higher premiums that NCLR considers out of reach. The reconciliation bill ameliorates these costs, said Jennifer Ng'andu, deputy director of NCLR's health policy report.

Also, the Senate bill excludes the 4 million residents of the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The reconciliation bill does not.

"The residents of Puerto Rico will have no access to this new insurance in this new marketplace (unless reconciliation is approved), so it's really serious," Ms. Ng'andu said.

Illegal immigration
On illegal immigrants, the NCLR has been forced to accept defeat for now, as not even the reconciliation bill addresses the group's concern. Namely, the newly signed Senate bill excludes illegal immigrants from using their own money to purchase private insurance on the exchange programs created by the legislation.

Still, roughly 40 percent of the nation's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants do have health insurance. NCLR fears many of these people could be dropped after the establishment of the exchanges.

"The truth is you're going to have people become disconnected from the system," MS. Ng'andu said.

The Hispanic organization least enthused by the legislation is the Republican National Hispanic Assembly.

The passage of the Healthcare Reform Bill today by the House of Representatives is a massive government takeover of the best healthcare system in the world and catastrophic for the American people," Alci Maldonado, chair of the group, said in a statement. "The House of Representatives failed to listen to the will of the people versus their own agendas. The fight is not over; we will speak loudly at the polls in November. God bless America!"