Engaging the Latinx Community in Medicaid Expansion

July 26, 2023

For Immediate Release

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Contact:

Daniela Cerón, Policy & Communications Associate

Latino Commission on AIDS

919-903-9194

dceron@latinoaids.org

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Engaging the Latinx Community in Medicaid Expansion

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Durham, North Carolina – Latinos in the South, a program of the Latino

Commission on AIDS, is pleased to announce the continuation of their Medicaid expansion efforts for Latinx communities in North Carolina, thanks to an additional $120,000 in grant funding from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

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With this grant funding Latinos in the South aims to continue participatory organizing and education efforts for Latinx communities to become stakeholders in Medicaid expansion efforts. The team will work in partnership with Latinx stakeholders to ensure outreach, enrollment materials, and efforts are equitable and well-resourced.

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In March 2023, North Carolina became the 40th state to expand Medicaid .The legislation is expected to provide health coverage to more than 600,000 North Carolinians. For Latinx families, who are often mixed-status, increased coverage and access to healthcare for a single family member will have positive ripple effects upon the rest of the family unit, especially for individuals living with HIV.

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Joaquín Carcaño, director of southern health policy at the Latino Commission on AIDS, commented, “Comprehensive healthcare coverage is a crucial piece of health and HIV justice work. We are excited for this next chapter of advocacy work in North Carolina that Medicaid expansion offers and the opportunities ahead to continue to build and invest in healthy, thriving communities across the state.”

As new information on Medicaid expansion in North Carolina becomes available Latinos in the South will continue to expand partnerships with Spanish-language media from across the state to encourage coverage, editorials, and elevate healthcare policy for communities by providing training resources in Spanish and inviting media to stakeholder tables for broader community reach and impact.

In the next year, Latinos in the South will host various community engagement and outreach events, to help develop skills, knowledge and resources to equip partners and empower them to combat inequities in healthcare policy and be directly involved in coalition work.

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The Latino Commission on AIDS was founded in 1990 and is the only Latinx

organization with a regional focus in the Southeast, through the Latinos in the South

program, based in Durham, NC with additional offices in Houston, TX and Miami, FL. The

mission of the Latino Commission on AIDS is to impact the HIV/AIDS epidemic by

spearheading health advocacy, promoting health education, developing and replicating

evidence-based programs for PLWHA and high-risk communities, and by building

capacity across the public health sector and within our communities. Latinos in the

South works regionally across the southeast (AL, MS, NC, SC, TN, GA, TX, FL, LA) and

primarily serves Latinx, immigrant, and LGBTQ communities living with and impacted

by HIV.

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