Richmond Confidential

By Fareed Abdulrahman

Confusion and concern: That’s what most of the 50 Richmond residents expressed last week during a workshop about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), President Obama’s subsidized health coverage that’s commonly called Obamacare.

“There is a lot of confusion about what Obamacare is, and what the details are,” said Morgan Westfall, the event organizer and project coordinator at Community Clinic Consortium, an advocacy group that helps Contra Costa and Solano County residents with health and quality-of-life issues.

“We want to make sure that people understand it clearly,” she said to the crowd.

President Obama signed the health reform bill into law in 2010 and although some provisions are already in place, the act will go into effect in its entirety in January 2014. Until then, community organizations are holding workshops such as the one held last week at Civic Center Plaza in Richmond to educate those who could benefit from the reform. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the law intends to make preventive care — including family planning — more accessible and affordable.