On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in to law.

This law puts in place comprehensive health insurance reforms that will roll out over a four year period, with most provisions becoming active in 201 4.

It is designed to provide consumers with

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strong protections, more coverage options, and lower costs.

The law gives seniors new preventive benefits, prescription drug discounts and more options for long-term care.

Simultaneously, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is continuing to implement its major initiative to reduce or eliminate health disparities among racial and ethnic minority people.

The Older Americans Act (OAA), of 1965, as amended , provides that older people are entitled to Freedom, independence, and the free exercise of individual initiative in planning and managing their own lives, full participation in the planning and operation of community based services and programs provided for their benefit, and protection against abuse, neglect, and exploitation.

(42 U.S.C.

3001).

To support these efforts, the Administration on Aging has put in place programs that can assist the Aging Network to help older people, including racial and ethnic minority seniors, understand and access benefits provided through these avenues.

The AoA has a history of promoting the development and demonstration of strategies designed to decrease the prevalence of health disparities among racial and ethnic minority older individuals.

During the most recent funding cycle individual cooperative agreements were awarded with the goal of reducing or eliminating health disparities among racial and ethnic minority elders by promoting positive health behaviors and encouraging healthier life styles.

In keeping with its history, again, on behalf of older individuals, the AoA is responding to the directives of the OAA and Departmental initiatives to reduce, or eliminate, health disparities among racial and ethnic minority individuals.

During the FY 2012 funding cycle, cooperative agreements will focus on assisting the Aging network to better serve racial and ethnic minority seniors by calling for NMAOs to form the National Aging Resource Consortium on Racial and Ethnic Minority Seniors (Consortium).

Projects to be awarded for this funding cycle will have the goal of assisting the network to provide supports and services in an effective and culturally competent manner.

The grantees will partner and act as a resource center for the Aging Network by providing culturally competent technical assistance.

Consortium members can expect to serve as consultants to the Aging Network for their constituent populations.

Projects may demonstrate strategies that will enhance the efforts of the Aging Network to effectively reach older racial and ethnic minority individuals and assist them to access programs that can improve their quality of life.

This support should result in the development of culturally appropriate home and community based interventions for reaching older individuals who experience barriers to access that can be attributed to language and low literacy as well as other barriers directly related to cultural diversity.