Affordable Care Act (Healthcare Reform) and Multicultural Populations cont.
We continue our 12 part blog series on the Affordable Care Act and Multicultural Populations.
Addressing Health Care Disparities among Small Business Workers – Part 10
By Martha C. Rivera, Director, Strategy and Insights, and Alejandro Ramos-Martinez, Junior Executive
The small business health care tax credit is an important tool that can be used to address the racial and ethnic disparities in access to coverage that exists among small business workers in our country. The rates of uninsurance among Hispanic and black workers are higher than the rate for white, non-Hispanic workers. In 2010, 30% of Hispanics and 20% of African Americans were uninsured, compared to 15% of Non-Hispanic Whites.
Many of these uninsured workers could benefit from the small business health care tax credit. More than 4.1 million Hispanic and more than 1.6 million black employees work for small businesses that could qualify for this tax credit for the 2011 tax year. It is especially important that small businesses that employ Hispanic workers be educated about this new tax credit. Hispanic workers are more likely to be employed by small businesses and have lower wages than white, non-Hispanic or black, non-Hispanic workers. In 2014, when the maximum tax credit increases to 50 percent of the cost of coverage, more small businesses with Hispanic workers will be eligible and may be able to offer additional coverage. But first, these small businesses must know that the tax credit is available to them.
Look for Part 11 of ourAffordable Care Act and Multicultural Populations in a future blog.
