By Peter Frost, Tribune reporter
May 4, 2014
Despite launching a Spanish language website, a bilingual call center and spending millions on outreach and marketing efforts targeting Latinos, the state of Illinois was unsuccessful in persuading the majority of these consumers to sign up for health insurance coverage in 2014, federal data show.
Only a little more than 1 in 20 Latinos in Illinois who were eligible to buy private health insurance under the Affordable Care Act did so in the first year, according to a Tribune analysis of enrollment figures released last week and federal Census data.
The lackluster participation numbers concern advocates, who question whether Latino consumers were targeted appropriately with federally funded, state-led outreach programs.
“If we really want to reach certain minorities, we have to become more culturally conscious and really think and refine how we talk to them and convince them that this is a product for them,” said Barbara Otto, CEO of Health & Disability Advocates, a Chicago-based health policy and patient advocacy group.
The enrollment report issued last week by the federal Department of Health and Human Services detailed for the first time the race of Americans who selected private health insurance plans under the health law.