Libraries and the Affordable Care Act: Helping the Community Understand Health-Care Options

Abstract

In the midst of both consumer and health professional confusion about the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Francisca Goldsmith writes a practical, clear, and compassionate guide for any librarians assisting information seekers with this topic. Goldsmith, a veteran of both public and academic library service in the United States and Canada, has supplied her expertise in staff development and library instruction through California's Infopeople Project and works with the underserved. Goldsmith knows what library staff and library patrons need to know to respond to community needs for health information, to cope in a practical manner with literacy disparities of all types, and to manage the role of public or consumer health libraries as change agents in a responsible legal and ethical manner. The author's purpose is to engage and encourage public library staff awareness and service planning in supporting local community health. Using knowledge gained from the first open enrollment period in 2013 to 2014, the author assists public library staff with providing information access and community education. The result is this core manual of essential knowledge, resources, library responses, and best practices. Intended to serve as a guide for library staff to tailor their role to the needs of their local communities, Goldsmith offers no singular blueprint. Instead, she provides short chapters, with bullet points for easy reference and task lists to focus planning and goal accomplishment. She is mindful of issues related to staffing and rural or urban settings. Chapter one, “The Affordable Care Act: Overview and Context,” provides the legislative facts and texts, the history, synonyms and editorial names, the role of federal and state governments, insurance exchange/marketplace types, Medicaid, initial outcomes, enrollment, recognition of local needs, project management, and staff awareness. Chapter two, “Health Insurance and Insurance Exchange Structures,” explores the terrain of the insurance exchange and insurance plans, small business health options, Medicaid in relation to the exchange, and health care access and the library. Chapter three, “Know Your Community,” provides the basics of digging more deeply into ethnicity, culture, language, and health literacy. Chapter four, “From Affordable Care Act Policies to Functional Library Tactics,” outlines the goals of the Federal Health Agency and the five policy objectives of the ACA. Goldsmith explains how to extract “library tactics” from the aforementioned policies. Language and technology access issues, especially for diverse populations, merit particular focus. A valuable outline of upcoming changes in the ACA through 2020 helps to keep this book current. Chapter five, “Ethics and Legal Matters Related to Health-Care Information Services,” describes codes of appropriate behavior, especially related to community health care consumers, and ethics in politics, diversity, library collections, legal situations, and technical and technology access. Chapter six, “Health-Care Related Reference Interviewing,” addresses the strong concerns that both public library and consumer health library staff may have in relation to uncovering patrons' real health information needs. Chapter seven, “Literacy, Health Literacy, and Financial Literacy,” succeeds in looking beyond reference and information technology services to the value of household income and motivated skill acquisition. Chapter eight, “Programming to Promote a Healthy Community, on the Ground and Online,” focuses on transparency, partnerships, stakeholders, rural concerns, and online support, with specific public library examples of successful approaches. Chapter nine, “Keeping Up Now, Documenting for Future Advocacy,” emphasizes the need for ongoing awareness, training, and documentation as an advocacy tool. Each chapter ends with questions and tasks, simplifying both learning and planning for library staff using this book. Notes at the end of each chapter also suggest related websites, media, and other resources useful for comprehension and additional research. Questions and tasks are worded clearly and explicitly to encourage best practice. Goldsmith includes three appendixes. Appendix A offers “Affordable Care Act Oversight and Marketplace Access by State.” Appendix B, “Resources,” features information about government regulations and sponsored access assistance, tools for plain language communication and exploration of community needs and assets, and social media resources. Provided tools include the Kaiser Family Foundation, WebJunction, and other key references. Appendix C, “Where Do I Find,” is the quick section provided in place of an index. For this type of handbook, it suffices. This book is recommended for public library staff and for medical or academic library staff who answer consumer health questions or questions about ACA from any patron type, and it is recommended as the primary, go-to-first resource. Exceptional in its practical utility and consumer health expertise, this title is complemented by the newly published The Medical Library Association Guide to Answering Questions about the Affordable Care Act by Emily Vardell (Rowman & Littlefield; 2015. ISBN: 978-1-4422-5536-4).