Two key factors impact the ability of Korean Americans to receive preventive medical care and/or early diagnosis of illness: lack of health coverage and health inequity. Nationally, Korean Americans are known to have the highest uninsured rate of 52% among all ethnicities. Additional factors contribute to this dismal statistic: immigration status, affordability, and lack of work-based health insurance programs. With regard to health inequity, Korean Americans are disproportionately impacted by the lack of health services that are culturally competent and linguistically appropriate.

To address these inequities, NAKASEC and affiliates prioritized three initiatives within federal health reform legislation in 2009:

  1. Immigrant inclusion,
  2. Health equity for racial and ethnic populations, and
  3. Affordability through the creation of a public option in any new health insurance pool.

Download the rest of our factsheet (PDF) to learn more about why Korean Americans need health reform and what you can do about it.

Read The Choice Before Us: Letters to President Obama.

See the online petition to support health reform for families and children. Available in Spanish and Korean.

  • Download the petition in PDF: English, Korean and Spanish.
  • Read the call for action: Unity in Struggle: Our State in Health Reform (English), 평등하고 공정한 의료 개혁 촉구 (Korean).