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Outreach To Latinos On Health Coverage Faces Obstacles

Outreach To Latinos On Health Coverage Faces Obstacles
Roque Planas
By 

National Reporter, HuffPost

An attendee, right, fills out an health care application with a volunteer during the WeConnect Health Enrollment Information & Wellness Event in Oakland, California, U.S., on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2013. The battle over Obamacare is taking on political importance as Democrats hope a successful roll-out among Hispanics will further bind those voters to the Democratic Party and undermine Republican efforts to build more support before the 2016 presidential election. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
An attendee, right, fills out an health care application with a volunteer during the WeConnect Health Enrollment Information & Wellness Event in Oakland, California, U.S., on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2013. The battle over Obamacare is taking on political importance as Democrats hope a successful roll-out among Hispanics will further bind those voters to the Democratic Party and undermine Republican efforts to build more support before the 2016 presidential election. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Valentin Torres is the kind of resident Illinois officials know they need to reach if their effort to vastly expand health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act is going to succeed.

Torres, a truck driver and the sole provider for his wife and three children under 18, said his family has gone uninsured since 2005 when he lost the coverage he had through an employer.

At a state-organized outreach event he heard about on Spanish-language radio, Torres learned the family would be eligible for Medicaid under the health law's expanded income rules. He planned to complete his application from home through abe.illinois.gov, a site for Medicaid applicants separate from the troubled federal website where private insurance plans are sold.

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