Obamacare Creating A Digital Divide With Spanish Speakers

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California’s Silicon Valley has much in common with Coral Gables and other South Florida neighborhoods.
On one side are the elegant homes and offices of the high-salaried. On the other, the quarters of largely Hispanic gardeners, nannies and other service staff, who the Affordable Care Act was meant to help.
With typical salaries from  $5 to $15 an hour and a lesser likelihood of owning or using a computer, this group has largely been left out of the first wave of Obamacare coverage, Kaiser Health News reports.
“In part, the lag in sign-ups among Spanish speakers reflects a digital – and a cultural – divide. Many are hesitant about handing over personal information to strangers over the Internet,” writes KHN.
The lag exists in California despite the fact that the state has had a functioning Spanish-language website since Oct. 1. In Florida and 35 other states that rely on the federally run insurance exchanges, Hispanics couldn’t enroll in CuidadoDeSalud.gov – the Spanish-friendly version of the federal marketplace – until Dec. 6, more than two months after its English counterpart, HealthCare.gov, launched on Oct. 1, reports KHN.
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