National Council of Asian Pacific Americans Applauds Final Rule to

Ensure Non-Discrimination in the Affordable Care Act

The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA) applauds the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services for recently finalizing an Affordable Care Act rule (known as Section 1557) that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability in certain health programs and activities. National origin discrimination includes discrimination based on immigrant status and English proficiency, which is important to the diverse Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities that speak more than 100 languages.

This rule will help ensure that AAPIs have equal access to quality health care. An estimated 9 million limited English proficient (LEP) individuals are thought to be uninsured, and one third of the AAPI population is LEP. Culturally and linguistically appropriate resources are necessary for our communities to have equal access to the health care they need and deserve.

NCAPA and many of its member organizations strongly support this new rule. NCAPA Health Committee Co-Chairs Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum and Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations issued statements, and the following organizations highlighted other positive aspects of the rule:

“The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) applauds the final rule of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Section 1557 civil rights provision”, said Miriam Yeung, NAPAWF executive director and NCAPA executive committee member. “This rule rightfully takes measure to ensure that AAPI women and girls, including transgender women, will not face discrimination on the basis of language accessibility. As the first federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination, Section 1557 protects the needs of our growing AAPI community. Of the 162 million women living in the United States, 9.9 million are AAPI. This is an important step in the right direction to ensure that AAPI women and girls will be treated equally.”

“The National Council of Asian Pacific Islander Physicians (NCAPIP) applauds the final rule of Section 1557 and the inclusion of data collection through electronic health records, which will ensure compliance with civil rights laws throughout our health care system,” said Dr. Ho Luong Tran, M.D., M.P.H, NCAPIP president and CEO.  “Data collection will also better capture population data--leading to improvements in health for all. Section 1557 will help ensure that all patients have access to better quality health care, including adequate language access services for those with limited English proficiency.”

"The National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) applauds the explicit protections of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) AAPIs in the the Affordable Care Act.  This rule will help ensure that people of transgender experience can live in their true gender by covering necessitated medical treatment and procedures," said Glenn D. Magpantay, NQAPIA executive director.

NCAPA and several of our member organizations issued comments on this rule in November 2015. Read NCAPA’s comments here.

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Based in Washington, D.C., the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans is a coalition of 35 national Asian Pacific American organizations that serves to represent the interests of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities and to provide a national voice for our communities’ concerns. Our communities are the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in the United States, currently making up approximately six percent of the population.