Special Enrollment Period: March 15 - April 30

The Health Insurance Marketplace is providing individuals and families who owe the fee when they file their 2014 taxes with one last chance to get covered for 2015. The Special Enrollment Period begins today, March 15 and ends on April 30. During this time, you'll have the opportunity to enroll in health coverage for 2015 if you owe the fee.

Important: The fee for people who don’t have coverage increases in 2015. If you don’t have health coverage for 2015, the fee is $325 per person or 2% of your household income – whichever is higher. We hope you take advantage of this extended opportunity to get quality coverage this year.  The HealthCare.gov Team

Hayward Promise Neighborhood: Wrapping Children in Coordinated Educational & Health Supports from Cradle to College to Career

You are invited to a webinar hosted by the Federal Interagency Health Equity Team.

Inspired by the success of the Harlem Children’s Zone, Promise Neighborhoods are place-based efforts, wrapping children in educational, social and health programs and supportive services from the cradle to college to career. Hayward Promise Neighborhood (HPN) was funded in 2012 to serve the Jackson Triangle in Hayward, California and/or students that attend six focus schools within the Hayward Unified School District. This webinar will discuss HPN’s cradle to college to career pipeline with an emphasis on its partnership with over ten agencies, led by California State University East Bay. This webinar will explain how HPN is improving educational outcomes by using existing resources and collaborating with programs such as Early Learning Services and Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center’s Promotores de Salud to operationalize a college-going culture. This collaboration enhances collective impact and supports education, health and safety equity. 

TOPIC: 

Hayward Promise Neighborhood: Wrapping Children in Coordinated Educational & Health Supports from Cradle to College to Career

SPEAKERS: 

Elson Nash, Team Lead, Promise Neighborhoods, U.S. Department of Education

Renee Sutton Herzfeld, Executive Director, Community Child Care Council of Alameda County; Director, Early Learning Network for Hayward Promise Neighborhood

Carlos Londono, Director of Health Education, Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center

Lauren Pitcher, Communications Manager, Hayward Promise Neighborhood 

DATE: March 19, 2015

TIME: 3:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. EDT

Register Here*: http://tinyurl.com/FIHETWEBINARSERIES

Click Here for Full Abstract and Speaker Biographies: http:/tinyurl.com/HPNWEBINAR

One Year of Progress for Young Men and Boys of Color

My Brother’s Keeper is the White House initiative announced by President Barack Obama a year ago, calling on all of us help close gaps in opportunity faced by too many young people, and boys and young men of color in particular.

The My Brother’s Keeper Task Force recently released a one-year progress report on the initiative and reports on the progress made during the first year.

Since September 2014, nearly 200 mayors, tribal leaders and county executives across 43 states and the District of Columbia have accepted the MBK Community Challenge and are partnering with more than 2,000 community-based allies.

Read more about community involvement and other MBK efforts in the one-year progress report here.

OHD TEMPORARY POSITION - Health Program Specialist I

TEMPORARY POSITION - Health Program Specialist I

Agency                       Utah Department of Health, Office of Health Disparities

Duration                     April 6, 2015 - June 30, 2016

Hours                          20 - 25 h/week (including some evenings and weekends)

Salary                         $15.00 per hour   

Benefits                      No. This is a non-benefited position

Openings                   1

Description               

Assist in the planning, design, development and execution of a community health program to reduce birth outcomes disparities among Utah's Pacific Islander/Hawaiian Natives. 

Responsibilities       

The Health Program Specialist will be responsible for tasks including but not limited to, gathering quantitative and qualitative data, developing educational materials, producing reports, giving presentations, providing screenings, setting up and taking down screening stations, conducting outreach activities and other task as needed.

Requirements           

·        BS from an accredited U.S college or university in public health, community health, health promotion or related field

·        Experience working with the Pacific Islander/Hawaiian Native community

·        Knowledge of, and ties to, the Utah's Pacific Islander/Hawaiian Native community or ability to do so

·        Documentation of current immunizations

·        Must have own vehicle and current Utah driver's license

·        Must attend mandatory orientation and trainings

Location                    

Utah Department of Health, Highland campus 3760 South Highland Drive, Salt Lake City. Some travel required, mostly along the Wasatch Front

Application               

·        Qualified applicants may send resume (no more than 2 pages) to Dulce Díez ddiez@utah.gov

·        Additional information: Explain (no more than one additional page) your experience with, and knowledge of, this specific community. Provide references and contact information for those references. 

Deadline                    

·        Requested materials (resume and additional information) must be received before March 24 at 11:59 PM. 

Printable job posting available.

ACA Sign Ups and Tax Credits in Utah Fact Sheet

CMS FACT SHEET: AFFORDABLE CARE ACT IN Utah

as of March 3, 2015

-At the end of Open Enrollment on February 15, 140,221 Utah consumers had selected a plan or were automatically re-enrolled in Marketplace coverage.

-88 percent of Utah consumers who were signed up as of January 30 qualify for an average tax credit of $159 per month through the Marketplace.

-As of January 30, in the 37 States using the HealthCare.gov platform, the average advance premium tax credit covers about 72 percent (or $268) of the gross premium, and tax credits will reduce premium costs across the 37 States by over $1 billion a month. 

-In the final day of Open Enrollment, more new consumers signed up for health coverage than any other day this open enrollment or last. 

-82 percent of Utah Marketplace enrollees as of December 2014 could have obtained coverage for $100 or less after any applicable tax credits in 2015.

-Utah consumers could choose from an average of 69 health plans in their county for 2015 coverage – up from 55 in 2014. 

Read more at http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/facts/blog/2015/02/open-enrollment-week-thirteen.html

U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, visits Utah

Newly confirmed U.S. Surgeon General,  Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, MD, MBA visited Utah yesterday with a stop at the YMCA Community Family Center in Taylorsville. Dr. Murthy is conducting a nationwide "listening tour" to hear the concerns and issues from health care leaders in all 50 states in order to gain public input to better inform decisions about future initiatives and programming. Attendees were impressed that rather than start off his tenure with a big, exciting national initiative or "declaration of war" against a disease, he wanted to get input from communities and find ways to collaborate and have collective impact. 

Pictured left to right: Jake Fitisemanu, UDOH Office of Health Disparities, Dr. Vivek Murthy,US Surgeon General, and Daela Taeoali'i-Higgs, SelectHealth

In attendance were leaders from state and local health departments, health care plans and providers.  A local resident shared his personal story of being uninsured for most of his life and the relief of finally being covered through a new Marketplace health plan.

Dr. Murthy was nominated by President Obama in November 2013 and confirmed on December 15, 2014 as the 19th United States Surgeon General.  Dr Murthy is the youngest and first Indian American to serve as Surgeon General.

New poll asks "What Shapes Health"?

When you ask people what impacts health you'll get a lot of different answers: Access to good health care and preventative services, personal behavior, exposure to germs or pollution and stress. But if you dig a little deeper you'll find a clear dividing line, and it boils down to one word: money.

People whose household income is more than $75,000 a year have very different perceptions of what affects health than those whose household income is less than $25,000. This is one key finding in a poll conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. One third of respondents who are low income say lack of money has a harmful effect on health.

One in 5 people in our poll say they are in a similar position — low paying jobs or unemployment harms their health. And there's research to back this up. Kate Strully, a sociologist at the University at Albany, State University of New York, studied what happened when healthy people were laid off following a plant closing. She found that losing a job increased the odds of developing stress-related health conditions by 83 percent — conditions like stroke, heart disease, diabetes and emotional or psychiatric conditions.

Another social fact that affects health is housing. Forty percent of the low-income people in our poll say bad housing causes bad health. Uzuri Pease-Greene says this is true for her family. She rents a small two-bedroom apartment with her husband, two daughters and a grandchild in a public housing complex in San Francisco. When something breaks, she says it takes years to get it fixed. Ovens don't work, there are holes in the walls, the water doesn't work or there's a sewage backup.

The impact of childhood experiences on adult health is another surprising finding in our poll. More than any other factor in childhood, people say abuse and neglect contribute to poor health in adults. 

Read What Shapes Health Report.