With the deadline for signing up for the Affordable Care Act looming on Feb. 15, the Los Angeles Community College District will again stage Covered LACCD Week at its nine campuses, including West L.A. College, until Friday, Feb. 13.
“Helping our students access health care will ensure they are able to succeed in their studies,” said Scott Svonkin, president of the LACCD Board of Trustees.
As was the case when the District staged its first Covered LACCD Week last February, the goal will be to not only attract, prepare and sign up as many uninsured students as possible, but also those in the surrounding communities currently without health insurance.
“Our District has students that are in most need of health care under the Affordable Care Act,” said Mike Eng, an LACCD trustee. “We are united as a district in making sure that every student gets the coverage that he or she needs.”
In the first six-month, open-enrollment period for health care coverage, concluding at the end of last March, more than 1.3 million people signed up for health insurance statewide. But that left many more still to reach in the current enrollment period. An estimated five million Californians have insufficient health care coverage or no coverage at all, a group that includes many in the student population. Those who choose to remain uninsured after Feb. 15 will be forced to pay the government a penalty.
“The intersection of poor health and poverty and its negative impact on educational attainment is well documented,” said Dr. Francisco Rodriguez, LACCD chancellor. “Part of our district’s student success efforts relate to ensuring that our students are healthy and have access to affordable and accessible heath care options. For this reason, we are making a strong push towards enrolling as many eligible students as possible throughout our nine colleges.”
Each of the District schools will gear their events to the specific groups they serve. For example, Los Angeles Mission College is located in Sylmar, one of the most underinsured regions in California. An estimated three-quarters of those living in that area are Latino so the college will be making a big push during Covered LACCD Week to not only sign up as many students as possible, but also those living in the surrounding community.
““We will make the residents of our community feel really welcome on our campus,” said Carlos Gonzalez, Dean of Student Success at Mission, “and offer enrollment in health care in a culturally sensitive manner. Our mission is to serve the needs of community education, but it is also important to us to have healthy citizens who will be better engaged in school should they choose to come to our college.”
The Los Angeles Community College District, the nation’s largest community college district, serves one-quarter million students a year in more than 36 cities in Los Angeles County at its nine colleges. The District covers nearly 900 square miles and has educated and trained the region’s diverse workforce since 1969.
