Adriano Espaillat: “As the whip of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, I am pleased to lead this monthly Special Order hour. This afternoon's…”

“As the whip of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, I am pleased to lead this monthly Special Order hour. This afternoon's topic comes at a critical time for our Nation and for the communities we represent who are all concerned with the state of healthcare and harmful actions of the Trump administration. There is no more personal an issue than one's health, and as such, this should be top on the minds of Members of Congress. It was the late Martin Luther King, Jr. who said in 1966 that of all the forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is perhaps the most shocking and inhumane. Healthcare is a priority of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and we want to use today's opportunity to discuss the state of Latino health in the United States of America. The Affordable Care Act was landmark legislation that extended healthcare coverage to more than 20 million Americans either through Medicaid expansion or tax credits to purchase quality and comprehensive healthcare insurance products. In the Latino community, at least 4 million Latino adults and 600,000 Latino children have gained health insurance coverage thanks to the ACA. And we cannot forget that the ACA extended health insurance coverage for children through age 26. Especially for children and young adolescents, the uninsured rate for Latino children has decreased considerably, from 11.5 percent to around 7.5 percent.…”