Minority Groups Unite to Support Healthcare Reform

WASHINGTON, - Congressional Tricaucus and
national minority medical and nursing leaders are meeting in Washington, DC
tomorrow, at the Rayburn House Office Building, Room B-339 from 5:00 - 7:00
pm, to urge Congress to pass health care reform legislation with affordable
insurance and a public option that target their communities. 


Minority doctors and nurses are underrepresented in the health care system,
but, they tend to provide more care, than the non-minority doctors and nurses,
in poor areas of the country and know first-hand, the challenges of
racial/ethnic health care disparities in the U.S.


"Minority doctors and nurses join the Tricaucus to tell President Obama to
include a national strategy to build minority health care," according to Dr.
Elena Rios, president of the National Hispanic Medical Association, a
Washington, DC based advocacy group, "We have been advocating to Congress and
White House staff  to support prevention without penalties on premiums for the
poor, to eliminate the 5 year ban on health care for legal immigrants, to
include the Office of Minority Health to target health care to minority
families so they suffer less from heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity
and HIV/AIDS."  


Speakers include Congressman Raul Grijalva, Congressional Hispanic Caucus
Health Task Force, Congresswoman Donna Christensen, chair, Congressional Black
Caucus Health Committee, Congressman Mike Honda, chair, Congressional Asian
Pacific American Caucus, Lucille Perez, MD, former president, National Medical
Association, Velma Henderson, RN, National Black Nurses Association, Norma
Martinez Rogers, PhD, president, National Association of Hispanic Nurses,
Melvina McCabe, MD, president, Association of American Indian Physicians,
Deanna Jang, policy director,  Asian and Pacific Islander American Health
Forum, Fredette West, chair, Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Coalition,
and Elena Rios, MD, president & CEO, National Hispanic Medical Association.
The briefing is being funded by Wyeth. 


Health reform, if passed into law, will support new programs to schools and
worksites for nutrition and physical exercise and new jobs such as community
health workers and translators; expand recruitment of minority students into
health professions careers; mandate data collection of race/ethnicity and
language and quality measures about providers' cultural competence; and
support government research that compares effectiveness of treatments.


The National Hispanic Medical Association is a nonprofit association
representing Hispanic physicians. The NHMA mission is to improve the health of
Hispanics and other underserved. For more information, go to www.nhmamd.org. 




SOURCE  National Hispanic Medical Association

Ed Colon, +1-202-628-5895