By Alejandra Alarcon
Coachella Unincorporated / New America Media
COACHELLA — Like a lot of other families living in the Eastern Coachella Valley, when one of our family members fell sick, it meant driving about a hundred miles across the border into Mexico, to the city of Mexicali, to get taken care of by a doctor. The only other option, it seemed, was not being taken care of at all.
But because of health care reform efforts in the United States today, young people won’t need to go without health insurance the way I did. The scenario is finally beginning to change. At least, it can change—if people are made aware of the health services right in their own community available through federal health care reform.
“We owe it to our country to inform the citizens to take advantage of all these resources that are available,” said Ronnie Cho, associate director of public engagement for the White House, during a speech about health care reform that I attended in Washington D.C. as a reporter in April 2012.
Cho is right. For the Affordable Care Act to make a difference, people need to first be aware that health care is an option for them. People need to know that they can afford to visit a doctor, without having to travel more than a few miles from their home.
Read more at: http://nmcompass.com/2013/05/13/crossing-the-border-for-health-care/
Read more: http://nmcompass.com/2013/05/13/crossing-the-border-for-health-care/