White House names two Indian-Americans as Champions of Change

The White House has named two Indian Americans as 'Champions of Change' in recognition of their work to educate Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) about President Barack Obama's signature healthcare act.
Manjusha P Kulkarni and Ranjana Paintal were honoured by the White House and the Department of Health & Human Services along with nine other advocates and community leaders for their work to educate AAPI about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) at an event here on April 24.
"For too long, many members of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander community have lacked access to quality, affordable health care," the White House had said in a statement.

"The Affordable Care Act provides an opportunity to provide nearly two million uninsured Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders with quality, affordable health care."
Based in Artesia California, Kulkarni is executive director of South Asian Network (SAN) -- a community-based organisation dedicated to advancing the health, empowerment and solidarity of persons of South Asian origin in Southern California.
Through her work at SAN, Kulkarni advocates for effective policies and practices on issues impacting the South Asian American community, and works to educate South Asian Americans on the benefits of the Affordable Care Act through in-language materials and outreach and individual assistance to enroll in California's health benefit exchange, Covered California, the White House said.

From Chicago, Paintal serves as programme manager for the Asian Health Coalition's partnership consortium around education, outreach and enrollment to underserved AAPIs communities in Illinois.
To target hard to reach immigrant communities, she oversaw the development of culturally sensitive and language appropriate ACA educational materials to increase ACA enrollment, the White House said.
Paintal has been working in public health for over 13 years.