Health

It’s Enrollment Time at Covered California!

Published

8 years ago

October 27, 2017

By Charlene Muhammad, California Black Media

Enrollment for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) opens November 1, and Covered California, the state’s hub for affordable plans, launched its outreach to Black communities with a “Coffee & Conversation Media Roundtable” at the California Endowment on October 19.

The event was hosted by Dr. Robert Ross, president and CEO of the California Endowment, which makes grants to organizations and institutions that directly benefit the health and well-being of Californians.

Open enrollment ends on January 31. However, outside of that time, consumers may enroll in a plan if they experience a life event that qualifies them for a special-enrollment period.

Ross, Dr. Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California, and a host of speakers discussed the future of health insurance and health care for Black people in the state, particularly in a time of federal uncertainty and potential reforms to the national health care law.

In August, the Trump Administration announced it would allocate $10 million for advertising and other outreach for enrollment under the Affordable Care Act Department this year, vs. $100 million last year.

To maintain, Covered California has to add a surcharge averaging 12.4 percent to the Silver-tier plan next year. But don’t worry, it says because the plans will level out, with nearly four out of five consumers seeing their premiums stay the same or decrease, since the amount of financial help they receive will also rise.

Dr. Peter Lee, Executive Director of Covered California and Dr. Robert Ross,

Financial help means that in 2018, nearly 60 percent of subsidy-eligible enrollees will have access to Silver coverage for less than $100 per month — the same as it was in 2017 — and 74 percent can purchase Bronze coverage for less than $10 per month, explains Covered California.

It is vital that Black communities stay informed about the state health exchange and its efforts to enroll communities of color, and members of the Black press are key players in that goal, say the health care advocates.

Statewide, Covered California has reduced the eligible uninsured rate to a little over three percent, meaning it’s reaching universal coverage, according to Lee. That benefits all communities and to a very powerful degree, Black communities, he said.

Blacks make up approximately five percent of subsidy-eligible enrollments, and they make up eight percent of the new Medical enrollments, he said.

“We’re doing this in very odd and uncertain, turbulent times,” said Lee. In many ways, this fifth open enrollment period is the second-most important one Covered California has ever had, he said.

California’s decrease of 3.2 million people is the biggest decrease in the raw number of people uninsured nationwide, representing more than three states combined, cited Covered California from a U.S. Census report.

In the beginning, the network stumbled a little bit, but proved to the country it could endure, has done pretty well, and is a model for the U.S., Lee stated. He also said frankly that Covered California and the Affordable Care Act are under attack.

Both have weathered the storm and been very effective in continuing to deliver, Lee said, as he thanked the Black media as part of the reason they’ve been successful in California.

Covered California’s marketing campaign aims to help motivate, inform, and assist people with enrollment. “We’re at a time where telling our story has to happen on the ground,” Lee said.

While the average Californian, last open enrollment, saw, heard, read about Covered California 90 times, name recognition is not enough, Lee stated.

A survey of uninsured, eligible consumers showed 25 percent know it and 75 percent do not, according to Lee.

That is why the health insurance marketplace plans to spend $111 million – mostly on paid advertising – to make Blacks aware of benefits through Covered California, such as free preventive care services, lower cost, and quality choices from brand name companies.

The bottom line is quality health care is within reach, emphasized Ross, Lee, and other roundtable speakers, including physicians from Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital, and Covered California insurance agents.

“California has been a model for the successful implementation of Obamacare,” said Ross. “That partnership with the California Black Media and others, we think, is at least, partly responsible for seeing the level of success we have in getting coverage improvements in the African American community,” he stated.

Regina Wilson, California Black Media director, questioned, what, specifically, are the health insurance plans themselves doing in terms of outreach to Blacks who are eligible, but not enrolling.

“One of the things we hear when we’re out there is people are confused about what’s happening,” Wilson informed.

“Covered California, you guys have stepped to the plate. The Endowment always steps to the plate, but I see an absence when it comes to those individual plans marketing in those areas,” commended Wilson.

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Oakland Hosts Town Hall Addressing Lead Hazards in City Housing

According to the city, there are 22,000 households in need of services for lead issues, most in predominantly low-income or Black and Latino neighborhoods, but only 550 to 600 homes are addressed every year. The city is hoping to use part of the multimillion-dollar settlement to increase the number of households served each year.

Published

5 hours ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Magaly Muñoz

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department hosted a town hall in the Fruitvale to discuss the efforts being undertaken to remove lead primarily found in housing in East and West Oakland.

In 2021, the city was awarded $14 million out of a $24 million legal settlement from a lawsuit against paint distributors for selling lead-based paint that has affected hundreds of families in Oakland and Alameda County. The funding is intended to be used for lead poisoning reduction and prevention services in paint only, not water or other sources as has been found recently in schools across the city.

The settlement can be used for developing or enhancing programs that abate lead-based paint, providing services to individuals, particularly exposed children, educating the public about hazards caused by lead paint, and covering attorney’s fees incurred in pursuing litigation.

Most of the homes affected were built prior to 1978, and 12,000 of these homes are considered to be at high risk for lead poisoning.

City councilmember Noel Gallo, who represents a few of the lead-affected Census tracts, said the majority of the poisoned kids and families are coming directly from neighborhoods like the Fruitvale.

“When you look at the [kids being admitted] at the children’s hospital, they’re coming from this community,” Gallo said at the town hall.

In order to eventually rid the highest impacted homes of lead poisoning, the city intends to create programs and activities such as lead-based paint inspections and assessments, full abatement designed to permanently eliminate lead-based paint, or partial abatement for repairs, painting, and specialized cleaning meant for temporary reduction of hazards.

In feedback for what the city could implement in their programming, residents in attendance of the event said they want more accessibility to resources, like blood testing, and information from officials about lead poisoning symptoms, hotlines for assistance, and updates on the reduction of lead in their communities.

Attendees also asked how they’d know where they are on the prioritization list and what would be done to address lead in the water found at several school sites in Oakland last year.

City staff said there will be a follow-up event to gather more community input for programming in August, with finalizations happening in the fall and a pilot launch in early 2026.

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The Best Advice for Raising Children: Discipline That Makes Sense

In his book Developing Positive Self Images and Discipline in Black Children, Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu suggests that primary aims for socializing Black children should be: establishing goals related to God and the church; familiarizing children with religious texts like the Bible or Quran; educating them of Black culture like Khemetic (Egyptian) Civilization; enlightening them about Black leaders like Malcolm X and Sojourner Truth; and teaching them to strive to be employers, not employees.

Published

5 days ago

May 13, 2025

Oakland Post

Headshot of Dr. William A. Thomas. Photo courtesy of Dr. William A. Thomas.

By William A. Thomas, Ph.D.

In many African societies, the primary aim of socialization is to raise children to be socially responsible and eventually provide economic support to their parents and extended families. Ghanaian philosopher Kwame Gyekye taught that children are raised to be respectful of the wishes of their parents and extended adult family members.

In his book Developing Positive Self Images and Discipline in Black Children, Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu suggests that primary aims for socializing Black children should be: establishing goals related to God and the church; familiarizing children with religious texts like the Bible or Quran; educating them of Black culture like Khemetic (Egyptian) Civilization; enlightening them about Black leaders like Malcolm X and Sojourner Truth; and teaching them to strive to be employers, not employees.

Effective disciplinary strategies appropriate to a child’s age and development teach them to regulate their behavior; keep them from harm; enhance their cognitive, social, and emotional executive functioning skills; and reinforce the behavioral patterns taught by their parents and caregivers.

Below are some specific guidelines for disciplining children.

Listen to what children are talking about with interest and show them you understand their feelings. Remember, children mirror and learn about their emotional selves by hearing their feelings reflected back to them. Staying on target also means avoiding labels. When children fail to do what is expected, discussing it is helpful rather than saying how stubborn, lazy, dumb, or bad they are. By the same token, more positive labels can be helpful.

Dependability is another essential component of the discipline process. When parents are dependable, their children learn what to expect and are helped to feel secure. When parents are consistent, children learn to trust, that is, predict their parents’ behaviors with certainty. A child thinks, “When I spill something, I will always be asked to wipe it up.” A child thinks, “If I use foul language, I will always be corrected.” A child thinks, “If I take something that doesn’t belong to me, I will always have to give it back.” The ability to predict with certainty leads children to rely on their parents and the village/community in which they live. Children feel safe when they know what to expect.

Conclusions

It takes a village/community to raise the divine gift that is the Black child. Parents look to therapists for guidance concerning a variety of parenting issues, including discipline. Keep in mind that evidence suggests that corporal punishment is both ineffective in the long term and associated with cognitive and mental health disorders. When parents want guidance about the use of spanking, a child therapist can explore parental feelings, help them better define the goals of discipline, and offer specific behavior management strategies. In addition to providing appropriate education to families, the Bay Area Association of Black Psychologists (Bay ABPsi) can refer them to community resources, like parenting groups and classes.

About the Author

Dr. Thomas is a licensed clinical psychologist with a private practice in the SF/Oakland Bay Area and Beaumont. He is a member of Bay ABPsi, a healing resource committed to providing the Post Newspaper readership with monthly discussions about critical issues in Black Mental Health. Readers are welcome to join us at our monthly chapter meetings every 3^rd Saturday via Zoom and contact us at bayareaabpsi@gmail.com.

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Faces Around the Bay: Author Karen Lewis Took the ‘Detour to Straight Street’

“My life has been a roller-coaster with an unlimited ride wristband! I was raised in Berkeley during the time of Ron Dellums, the Black Panthers, and People’s Park. I was a Hippie kid, my Auntie cut off all our hair so we could wear the natural styles like her and Angela Davis.

Published

3 weeks ago

April 28, 2025

Oakland Post

Karen Lewis. Courtesy photo.

By Barbara Fluhrer

I met Karen Lewis on a park bench in Berkeley. She wrote her story on the spot.

I got married young, then ended up getting divorced, raising two boys into men. After my divorce, I had a stroke that left me blind and paralyzed. I was homeless, lost in a fog with blurred vision.

Jesus healed me! I now have two beautiful grandkids. At 61, this age and this stage, I am finally free indeed. Our Lord Jesus Christ saved my soul. I now know how to be still. I lay at his feet. I surrender and just rest. My life and every step on my path have already been ordered. So, I have learned in this life…it’s nice to be nice. No stressing, just blessings. Pray for the best and deal with the rest.

Nobody is perfect, so forgive quickly and love easily!”

Lewis’ book “Detour to Straight Street” is available on Amazon.