By Teresa Wiltz
In the waiting room at La Clinica del Pueblo, a community health center in Northwest Washington, signs in Spanish encourage patients to “Empower yourself!” and sign up for insurance coverage…
States that created their own exchanges often did no better. Oregon used the often awkward Google Translate. California, despite its large Latino population, offers poor translations, according to Lisa Clemans-Cope, a researcher at the Urban Institute’s Health Policy Institute.
Trust is also a major factor for families who fear that enrolling could jeopardize their immigration status, despite government reassurances to the contrary, said Sonal Ambegaokar, senior attorney at the nonprofit National Health Law Program. “But if there’s an immigration raid in that community, it’s not very reassuring.”
