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Eric Moreno

Eric Moreno is a Content Curator with the Salud America! program at UT Health San Antonio. He specializes in covering the topics of health equity and family and social support. He holds a BA from the University of Texas at San Antonio and an MA from Gonzaga University.


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Articles by Eric Moreno

U.S. City to Give Residents $500/Month Income, No Strings Attached


Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs universal basic income

At times, almost all families need a little help with money. Providing that help is the idea behind "universal basic income," which would make everyone in a certain place eligible to receive a regular monthly stipend from a collected pool of money. The 42% Latino city of Stockton, Calif, will soon be the first major U.S. city to test it out for real. The city will start an experimental program in fall 2018 that will give dozens of families $500 a month—with the proverbial “no strings attached"—for at least several years depending on how long the funding lasts. The Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED) program will provide income to participants to help cover basic living expenses. The median household income in Stockton is $44,797, which is well below ...

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CHIP Benefits More than Half of All Kids in 15 States



The importance of quality healthcare is essential to obtaining a better education, achieving sustained professional success, and long-term financial stability. Good health starts when you’re a kid and right now, millions of kids across the country depend on two government-sponsored health insurance programs: Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). According to a study by Child Trends, 43% of all kids in the country receive health insurance from either Medicaid or CHIP and 15 states – including heavily Latino-populated states such as California, Florida, and New Mexico – have more than half of their kids enrolled in these programs. As of August 2017, the states are: Alabama 54.9% Arkansas 57.8% California 53.6% Florida 57.8% Kentucky ...

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#SaludTues Tweetchat 1/16/18: Making Latinos Healthier in 2018



It’s a brand-new year, as 2018 is here! If you are like millions of others across the country, you probably took some time to come up with a New Year’s resolution or two. Each New Year, millions of people make New Year’s resolutions. These vary from eating healthier, getting more exercise, and being more aware of their mental health. While the intentions are good, these resolutions are not always easy to stick to. So, what if, for 2018, we did something different? What if we resolved to make this year healthier for Latinos? Despite being the largest and youngest racial and ethnic minority group in the country (and their numbers are getting larger and younger with each passing year), Latinos still suffer from numerous disparities that prevent them from obtaining the best ...

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States Say Short-Term CHIP Funding Not Enough


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Millions of kids depend on the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for healthcare coverage. This care helps ensure their physical, mental, and emotional health and helps to keep them on track toward a better chance at academic success. Latino kids have especially benefited from CHIP program. More than 9 in 10 Latino kids were covered by CHIP in 2015, research shows. Yet CHIP remains in jeopardy. It expired in September 2017 and is only continuing thanks to "temporary measures" in early 2018. In fact, The Hill reports that three state governments have sent warning letters to families alerting them that they could lose coverage for their children by Jan. 31, 2018, if new permanent funding from Congress is not approved. Alabama (4% Latino), for example, recently ...

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Report: 1 Million Latinos Just Enrolled for Healthcare Coverage!


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More than 8.7 million people signed up for healthcare coverage during the recent Open Enrollment period that ended on Dec. 15, 2017, a promising number despite a shorter signup period than previous years. Of the 8.7 million signups, 2.4 million were new enrollments and 6.3 were re-enrollments, according to federal data. About 9.2 million signed up last year, including 1 million Latinos. This year, given the closeness in overall signups this year to last year, it can be estimated that about the same number of Latinos sign up this year, too. Although slightly lower overall than last year, the new 8.7 million sign-ups are strong. This is because the Trump administration slashed advertising funding for Obamacare by 90% and cut spending on the navigator program, which funds ...

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The Ginormous Benefits of ‘Integrated Student Support’ for Latino Kids


early care preschool program with diverse kids

Many U.S. Latino families lack of access to quality education, making it harder for Latino kids to achieve academically, socially, and physically. Fortunately, schools can make a big change to support Latino kids and families. By creating integrated student support initiatives, schools can better serve both their students and their communities, according to a new report, Making the Grade: A Progress Report and Next Steps for Integrated Student Supports from the nonprofit Child Trends. What are Integrated Student Supports? Integrated student support initiatives add specific services—academic support, housing assistance, food supplies, medical care, mental health services, etc.—in schools to help kids and families ensure their overall health and academic success. This effort ...

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Choosing the Right College Could Mean $25K More a Year for Latinos



Getting a college education is linked to better employment, better health, and active volunteerism and voting. In fact, people with a bachelor’s degree earn $25,000 more than those without. Unfortunately, even as Latinos are enrolling in college at an all-time high, they earn four-year degrees at a far less rate (18%) than their white peers (44%). A new report offers a solution: Latinos should enroll at the right school. The report, published by The Education Trust, found that closing the educational gap can in part happen by changing where Latino students enroll. Nearly 25% of all Latino freshmen enroll in the “most selective” institutions where most freshmen graduate. Nearly 30% enroll at more accessible institutions where a few complete degrees. In contrast, ...

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Shocking Reasons Why 100,000 San Antonio Adults Haven’t Passed 9th Grade



San Antonio is the nation's seventh-largest city, a dynamic modern powerhouse steeped in Latino culture and history. Yet more than 100,000 adults here haven't passed ninth grade. An in-depth article by Lily Casura of HuffPost recently took a deep dive into the state of education in the city, which noted "exceptionally low" high-school graduation rates in certain parts of the city. Casura's article notes that 300,000 San Antonio adults overall (20% of the city's population) are not high-school graduates. Four San Antonio ZIP Codes (two on its east side and two on its west side) have emerged as “the highest-hardship areas of the city,” she wrote. About 110,000 people live in these four ZIP Codes (78202, 78203, 78207, and 78237) and more than half have not completed ninth ...

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What’s a Great New Year’s Resolution? Addressing Mental Health for Latinos



New Year’s resolutions are a tradition that many people engage in every year. Some resolve to address physical health – to eat better, to lose some weight, to exercise more – and these are all great. However, one aspect of health often gets completely overlooked during this time of year. Mental health affects millions of people across the country, but more often than not goes unaddressed. Latinos – especially young Latinos – are statistically more likely to have mental health issues than their peers and they are far less likely to seek treatment. Lack of access to resources, cultural stigma, and language barriers are all key reasons why Latino mental health often goes untreated. In an effort to reverse this situation, Kaiser Permanente has launched a website entitled ...

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