Hispanics in valley debating health care

Editor's note: This report originally appeared in Friday's edition of El Tiempo, a Spanish-language newspaper published by Stephens Media.

Members of the Las Vegas Hispanic community voiced conflicting opinions on the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that upheld most provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

Andres Ramirez, a political consultant, said Mitt Romney and the Republican Party have invested millions of dollars trying to confuse Americans regarding the act.

"The strongest argument is that it is a law that will raise taxes when these taxes will be charged to only 1 percent of the population, which is to say the wealthy social class," Ramirez said.

He said the health care reform act, on the contrary, will reduce taxes for all Americans, "as people having health care will reduce emergency room visits, which are the most expensive. Since they will be able to treat the problem from the start with a general practitioner, they will not wait for their health to worsen thereby increasing the costs of going to the emergency room," Ramirez said.

On the other hand, Otto Merida, executive director of the Latin Chamber of Commerce, said the health care law will prolong the recession and could harm small businesses.

"Although we do not know how small businesses and large industries will be affected, what can happen is the prolonging of the recession. It will delay the country's economic development," Merida said. "As every American citizen is obligated to pay for health insurance, the employer will have to pay more for their employees, and even if they receive a government subsidy, that will slow the country's economic activity."

He said that the health care reform act is complicated and that Americans will not know all the ramifications until it's fully implemented.

Merida said that to protect the health of some 30 million people without health insurance, those with insurance have been affected, thus changing the economic dynamics.

"The truth is that eventually someone has to pay, and therefore the federal government imposed this tax that no one knows how much it will be," he said.

Merida said that when Medicare was implemented, the government provided a figure of what it was going to cost, but then over time the cost was much higher.

"I regret that the country has not been able to control increasing medical costs," he said.

He said that the Latin Chamber of Commerce soon will hold a meeting with small-business owners to further discuss the issue.

Dr. William Alvear, who has more than 20 years of experience in internal medicine and who is a 15-year resident of Las Vegas, said the new law recognizes the health needs of the community in general and especially Hispanics. He said the government should move some funds from other programs to strengthen health care among the population.

"We have to reinforce preventive medicine health programs to control diabetes and hypertension, with annual medical checkups, which would help detect diseases that can become chronic and increase service costs," he said.

"Democrats and Republicans need to see what people need because health is a priority for all," he said.

Alvear disagrees that the law will raise taxes. As far as Medicaid services for low-income families and others, he said Nevada must maintain the program because there is so much need.

"We must not leave unprotected for any reason this population, which is going to need Medicaid," he said. "Finally, we will see that the population will be healthier because health is a right that people have."

Maria Luisa Sarmiento, who has lived in Las Vegas for 12 years, said that as a patient she feels good that the Supreme Court has endorsed the health care reform act "because it is not right that the United States has so many people without health insurance, most of them low-income families that are affected in their health services."

This story was translated from Spanish by Maite Salazar.