By Dianne Anderson

Cornelious “CJ,” Page Jr. tries to find middle ground for folks having problems affording the affordable Covered California, which has larger families struggling to make the payments.

If people are single, he said it’s probably not so bad, but for families with a few kids, regular costs for urgent care or increased doctor visits all add up to being out of reach for lower income Black families.

“Unless they have a higher income that could afford a nice Covered California [plan], I’ll be honest, it sucks. It’s not doing anything for African Americans in the region,” said Page, founder and Executive Director of Community Health Action Network (CHAN) in Victorville.

Medi-Cal is another option. He has a friend who finally got insured with a new job, but for a while, he and his wife had no coverage.

“He didn’t have a steady job. He was laid off, trying to get coverage and his wife needed surgery,” he said. “I was going to get him into Medi-cal fast so he would be stable and she could get her surgery.”

Another friend grapples with access to services that her healthcare contract says it provides. Diagnosed with leukemia, her large popular healthcare provider said they couldn’t do anything for her, and sent her to the City of Hope.

The problem is, she doesn’t drive. He’s trying to help her push a complaint through to the top.

“They said, we do transportation, but literally they don’t do it out there. I’m her advocate. Her life depends on that appointment two days a week, and dealing with transfusions, the whole kit and caboodle.”

Page receives different streams of funding to keep his nonprofit strong. They offer health and wellness services, advocacy, child seat safety, food vouchers and emergency utilities, to name a few.

Right now, he holds a weekly health series focused on African American heart health, cutting back on sodium for hypertension and stroke prevention. They also check blood pressure. This diabetes awareness month, the topic is ketoacidosis.

Physical exercise is also at crisis levels in the community. To get moving, he created “I Walk” at the local mall in Victorville, which averages about 120 seniors everyday committed to walking miles around the mall.

With a $20,000 grant from the Inland Empire Community Foundation Black Equity Initiative, he was able to jumpstart his vision.

“Walking lowers blood pressure and strengthens your bones, and that’s why I included the education component. We’re doing the series to understand the [test data], numbers is a life-saving situation,” he said.

He said that IE-CF has been very informative with their budgeting programs, and they are bringing grant awardees together to learn more about the nonprofit capacity-building processes.

According to a 2022 KFF study, high healthcare costs are disproportionately impacting uninsured Black and Hispanic adults, and those with lower incomes. A large representation of both groups report delaying or forgoing medical care due to the cost.

“Those who are covered by health insurance are not immune to the burden of health care costs. About one-third of insured adults worry about affording their monthly health insurance premium, and 44% worry about affording their deductible before health insurance kicks in,” the report said.

Craig Tomiyoshi, spokesperson for Covered California, said help is available through federal plans and acts for people who fall in a financial gray area. In the past two years, the American Rescue Plan ensures no one pays more than 8.5% of household income on Covered California coverage.

In the past decade, Covered California has reduced the state’s uninsured rate to a historic low of 6.5%.

Over 90% of Covered California enrollees receive financial assistance to help them pay for their premiums. Almost two-thirds get comprehensive coverage for $10 or less per month, or many for no cost, depending on their income.

“The uninsured rate in the AA/Black community in California has fallen from 16 percent in 2013 to 6% in 2022, according to recent Kaiser Family Foundation data. There are currently 33,370 Covered California enrollees who identified as AA/Black as of September 2023, which is nearly a 40% increase from 2014,” he said in an email.

At last glance about 95% of African Americans were insured, either through Covered California, Medi-Cal or private insurance, which is good news.

Rhonda Smith said that her health program offers a network of Covered California counselors, and folks can check their website specifically for Black enrollers. There are also toll-free contacts on their website for enrollment counselors directly in the area where they live.

“We want to ensure everybody, not just Black folks, but especially Black folks. They’re on the front lines enrolling everyone now that open enrollment has started,” said Smith, the California Black Health Network Executive Director.

Anyone with questions about Medi-Cal redetermination can also check in with CBHN.

“They can reach out to our enrollment counselors and also how they can get connected to the Covered California qualified plan if they get kicked off Medi-cal,” she said.

With access to insurance coverage, she said that now is not a good time to slack off. The community needs to stay on top of their health.

“We still have work to do, but generally, there is a shortage of Black health care providers whether mental health, primary care or specialty care,” she said. “Everything is not good because we’re still having poorer outcomes than everybody else.”

For health help and services, see https://chanhd.com

To speak to a Covered California Black service representative, see CBHN,

To learn more about CBHN, see https://www.cablackhealthnetwork.org/

Or see, https://www.coveredca.com/