Greetings!
Last Fall, the Portland African American Leadership Forum, in conjunction with the Urban League of Portland, Albina Ministerial Alliance, Multnomah County, OHA Office of Equity and Inclusion and DHS Office of Equity and Multicultural Services, convened the Oregon Health Authority and Department of Human Services agency leadership and community members to participate in the second of two meetings, focused on how the State can work with the community to eliminate the disparities experienced by African Americans as outlined in the State of Equity Report. We want to thank both agencies for their leadership and for the opportunity to engage them in a dialogue, focused on creating accountability and inclusivity in state processes’ to ensure improved health outcomes for our community.
PAALF is pleased to announce that we will re-convene stakeholders to continue these discussions.
The State of Equity Report: African American Third Community Reconvening
Date: Monday November 4th,
Time: 8am-12pm
At: Maranatha Church – 422 NE 12th, Portland OR.
At the event, PAALF will present a series of recommendations to Oregon Health Authority leaders and request their commitment to adopting them. We will conduct a separate event with the Department of Human Services sometime next year.
In preparation, we also request your attendance at a pre-event community planning meeting. At this meeting, we will review community feedback from the first two State of Equity Report convenings and work together, as a community, to develop the recommendations we would like to propose to agency leadership moving forward.
The pre-planning meeting
Date: Monday October 7,
Time: 1pm-5pm
At: the June Key Delta Center – 5940 North Albina St., Portland, OR.
Cover Oregon is the state’s health insurance exchange that will help improve access to health coverage by providing an online central marketplace where individuals, families and small employers can shop for private health plans by price, carrier or services offered. They can also compare plans apples-to-apples, select and enroll in a plan on the Cover Oregon website. As of January 1, 2014, thousands of Oregonians will be eligible for financial assistance to help cover the cost of insurance, and beginning October 1, 2013, Cover Oregon will help individuals determine whether they qualify beginning October 1, 2013.
Through the Cover Oregon application process, individuals and families will also be able to find out if they qualify for public medical programs such as the Oregon Health Plan and Healthy Kids.
Contact Urban League of Portland Lead Cover Oregon Coordinator Bisi Carter bcarter@ulpdx.org 503-280-2600 ext 609
Cover Oregon: “Live Your Life”
Did You Know?
More than 3 million young people under age 26 have gotten health coverage through their parents’ plans thanks to the new coverage options, including more than 500,000 young African Americans.
About 2.9 million African Americans will be eligible for financial assistance to help pay for the health plans they choose through their state’s Health Insurance Marketplaces.
If every state expanded Medicaid, more than 2.8 million African Americans could get free or low-cost health care.