Hispanics have the most to gain from President Obama's healthcare reform law since they're the largest ethnic cohort without insurance, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis writes in a Spanish-language editorial carried in the ImpreMedia chain's newspapers Friday.
The editorial previews next week's second anniversary of the law's signing on March 23, 2010. It comes as polls show that Republican presidential candidates are struggling to connect with the nation's fastest-growing demographic, a group that overwhelmingly trusts Democrats over Republicans to fix the economy.
Solis writes that some 700,000 Hispanics under the age of 26 have already benefited from the law's provision requiring insurance plans to cover young people on their families' plans. And, with more than half of Latinos age 18 to 44 not having a doctor, the law's investments in the healthcare workforce and in health centers is particularly important to Hispanics.
"In only two years," Solis writes, "the [health law] has already greatly benefited the Latino community and there's much more still to come."
Republican National Committee spokesperson Alex Franceschi said the law isn't delivering on its promises.
"The Obama Administration promised that his health care plan would help Hispanic families by decreasing premiums and costs," Franceschi said. "Instead, Hispanics already struggling in the Obama economy are getting saddled by increased costs to their health care plans. Obamacare is just one more failed promise that Obama made to the Hispanic community."
