Provide info on healthcare law in South Asian languages: Lawmaker

A US lawmaker has asked the Obama Administration to provide information about the new healthcare law in South Asian languages like Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi and Gujarati so that the community members can take full advantage of it.

"The healthcare law will be great for our country by allowing millions of uninsured individuals and families to obtain coverage while lowering costs for many who already have insurance," Congresswoman Grace Meng said and called on the Obama Administration to provide better South Asian-language access to the new health-insurance law.

"But the South Asian community must have access to the new insurance marketplace in the languages they speak so that they can take full advantage of it, and not get left behind," she said.

"I urge the Obama Administration to translate the healthcare website and telephone hotline into Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati and other South Asian languages as soon as possible," Meng said.

"Not doing so would create a huge barrier to South Asian-Americans securing the health insurance that they are entitled to receive, and in many cases desperately need," she said, adding that translating the health-insurance materials is essential for the new insurance marketplace to succeed, since Asian-Americans are the fastest-growing minority group in the nation.

On Tuesday, Obama had said the hotline on the new healthcare is responded by real people, in 150 different languages.

The website, which is still facing problems, lists out Hindi and Gujarati among the languages it provides information.