by Nathalia González
Commonwealth Fund senior vice president Cathy Schoen and colleagues came together during a teleconference Feb. 1 to provide a group of reporters, including Hispanic Link, with a scorecard that rates the 51 states on their concern about children’s and parents’ access to affordable health insurance.
According to Schoen, the Fund’s VP for policy, research and evaluation, there is a two-to-threefold spread between top and bottom ranked states. Top states are found mostly in New England and the Upper Midwest regions. The bottomranked states are in the South and Southwest.
The Commonwealth Fund scorecard creates benchmarks for all states to reach. The speakersmaintained that if those benchmarks are achieved by all of them, 5.6 million more children and 10.4 million more parents would be insured, 9 million more children would have primary care medical access and more than 10 million would receive the appropriate preventive care services.
Focusing on states with a significant Hispanic population, these are the facts:
Five of the six states, New York being the exception, fall into in the scorecard’s low third and fourth quartiles of the scorecard. Schoen explained that, according to their Commonwealth Fund research, one-fourth to one-third of the population in the lower-ranked states does not receive recommended preventive care.
Among her suggestions as to what can be done to improve conditions in those highly Hispanic-population states is to post surveys and reports in Spanish — and other languages as appropriate.
“We hope, looking forward, that states and local care systems will seize on the potential and learn from innovation so that all children will have a more equal opportunity to survive, thrive and lead healthy, productive lives,” Schoen said, ending on a positive note.
For details, visit commonwealthfund.org.
In other Hispanic news:
Students hail victory as UTEP reinstates César Chávez Day
by Danya P. Hernández
EL PASO Texas — Dr. Diana Natalicio president of the University of Texas at El Paso, circulated an email message to the university’s faculty and its 20,000 students Feb. 8 that the institution’s annual celebration of César Chávez’s March 31 birthday was no longer on the chopping block.
The Day was established as an optional state holiday in 1999 by then-Gov. George Bush and readily adopted by UTEP, where the student population is three-quarters Hispanic. When the state approved only 12 holidays for academic year 2010- 11, UTEP had to trim two. Its Faculty Senate announced late last month that César Chávez Day would be eliminated.
Some 150 students, supported by alumni, quickly mobilized against the decision and confronted Natalicio, who expressed sympathy for the students’ cause and requested time to work on a solution. Ten days later she made her announcement that the Faculty Senate had rescinded its vote. While details are apparently still being worked out, student reaction was immediate and favorable.
A Facebook group, “UTEP Students for César Chávez Day,” was among the fi rst to posted a note: “Thanks to everyone for this victory. ¡Qué Viva César Chávez!” Student Javier SanRomán added the message to his facebook page, “¡Que orgullo, gracias a todos Uds. Sigan luchando. César vive, la luche sigue!”
In her announcement, Natalicio stated, “We regret the calendar confusion and the misunderstanding that resulted from it.” Prior to the president’s announcement, campus and community groups mobilized against the decision. Among them: Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) and Cultural Artists United for Social Action (CAUSA).
A “Restore César Chávez” rally featured community speakers and members of the groups that helped organize it. A petition to reinstate the holiday was circulated. The rally culminated with Pete Duarte, an active alumnus, declaring he would give back his Gold Nugget Award, UTEP’s most prestigious award for alumni.
“The action taken by the Faculty Senate is not only a slap in the face to the students, faculty and staff on campus — an act of culture and racial
genocide — but also an act of racism,” Duarte said.
Coordinator of Students for César Chávez Day Adrian Rivera said, “They didn’t take into consideration the population of the University and they didn’t consider the effect of changing something like that,” Protesters used Chávez’s peaceful ways to voice their concerns — proof that his legacy lives on, said Rivers. “Faculty Senate gave us the stage and we are going to use it to start educating about what César did for the community and the nation.” Hispanic Link
