When ICAN saw that 26% of the Vietnamese American community do not have health insurance, we became a Certified Enrollment Entity with Covered California in order to help our community navigate the system.
We mostly help those in Santa Clara County, but we also offer service to people in surrounding counties from referrals from their friends. We ended up helping not just Vietnamese families, but also Indian, Filipino, Korean, Chinese, African American, and Caucasian families get affordable health care and/or Medi-Cal. If you need help or just simply want to ask questions, please contact ICAN. Our service is completely free.
To talk with us, click the yellow “Contact Us” button below.
Covered California is the health care insurance market place where individuals and companies can get affordable health insurance. Those who qualify will get assistance from the government in the form of tax credits, which go to lower the health insurance premium, the deductibles, or both. This is California's response to the Affordable Care Act signed by President Obama which has successfully offered affordable health care insurance solutions to millions of people in California and throughout the country.
Click here for more info: https://www.coveredca.com/
WHY WE DO IT
When Covered California was first launched in October 2013, it was estimated that approximately 20% of Vietnamese in California do not have health insurance. Many were uninsured because they simply could not afford the monthly premium. If you were caught in the middle, ie. you are not affluent, yet "not poor enough" to qualify for government assistance, you were simply out of luck. We saw many cases where the husband and children had health coverage through the husband's work, but the mother/wife was uninsured because the family had to save money for food. Many self-employed or unemployed also remained uninsured due to expensive private health insurance plans.
We were inspired by the benefits and equity brought by Covered California and the Affordable Care Act:
Insurance companies cannot discriminate against (cannot charge more for) people with pre-existing conditions.
If you lose your job, you can get Medi-Cal right away to keep you and your family healthy until you find another job. This expanded MAGI Medi-Cal is based on income, not assets. This assurance has helped to lower stress, anxiety and depression among those who temporarily lost their job due to corporate restructuring or other reasons.
If you work hard to build your future and your income happens to just pass the limits to receive Medi-Cal, you can still get very affordable health insurance (as the Silver 94 level is just a little bit more expensive than Medi-Cal which is free). This removes threats that have discouraged many poor families from striving harder to get to the shore of financial independence.
All insurance companies are required to speak the "same language" to make it easier for consumers to shop and compare: standardized tiers of insurance terms and benefits (platinum, gold, silver, bronze), same language for deductible, annual out-of-pocket costs etc.
WHO WE SERVE
Those who spend more than 9.5% of their income on health insurance premium
Those who were uninsured just because they could not afford to pay the expensive health insurance premium
Housewives/mothers who sacrifice their own health insurance in order to save money so their familiess can be fed.
We are part of the collaboration led by Asian American Advancing Justice Los Angeles, a nonprofit organization that receives funding from Covered California to reach out to, educate, recruit, and retain memebers of surrounding Asian communities.
HEAR FROM OUR COMMUNITY:
“I am a single mom trying to raise my son after a nasty divorce. My company is small and does not offer health insurance so I had to buy the expensive private health plans in the market. I used to have to pay $1400 per month for me and my son, but now, through Covered California, I am able to keep that cost to an affordable price of about $500 per month. I hope this program will last forever” —NV, Santa Clara, 2014.
“I am grateful for Hong's help. She was very patient and went out of her way to help resolve my complex situation and got me the health plan that I can afford. I will definitely tell my friends about ICAN's service.” —Le, San Jose, 2017.
“I trust Quyen from ICAN so I came back to her every year for help to apply for Medi-Cal whenever I lost my job, or to renew my current health plan through Covered California. She patiently answered all of my questions so I felt more assured and peaceful when I left ICAN’s office. I even brought her all the letters that I received from Covered California for her to read and explain to me.” —CT, Milpitas, 2018