Latino with No Health Insurance: 2006 National Conference Looks at the Consequences

Conference on the consequences of uninsurance and the health policy challenges of covering uninsured Hispanics

The University of Texas-Pan American (UTPA) hosted a conference in May 2006 to examine the consequences Hispanic Americans face when they lack health insurance.

The meeting served as the inaugural event of the Raul Yzaguirre Policy Institute, a think tank at UTPA that focuses on policy research and leadership issues affecting the Hispanic population in the United States.

Key Results

  • More than 250 people attended the meeting, the "National Uninsured Latinos Conference," May 21–22, 2006, on the UTPA campus.
  • The two-day conference featured:
    • Four keynote presentations, including:
      • John Edwards, former U.S. Senator.
      • Henry Cisneros, former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
    • Four panel presentations/discussions, entitled:
      • Proposals to Cover the Uninsured.
      • Moving from Policy Initiatives to Action.
      • Partnering with Stakeholders and Corporate America to Cover the Uninsured.
      • Leadership and Health Policy Research Needs.
  • Video versions of some of the presentations are available online.

Funding

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) provided an unsolicited grant of $50,000 from February 2006 through August 2006 to support the meeting. Other support came from Pfizer Inc, AEP-Central Power and Light and Doctors Hospital at Renaissance.

After the Grant

Project Director Jose Pagan made several presentations at other meetings because of the UTPA conference. These included a keynote presentation at a November 2006 symposium, "Addressing Health & Wellness Disparities in the Latino/Hispanic Community," sponsored by the Raul Castro Institute at Phoenix College.

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