MEMORANDUM

DISCUSSION:

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) has produced six-minute videos that contain basic information regarding health care and insurance options. The videos discuss Medicaid, Refugee Medical Assistance (RMA) and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the six languages listed below, many of which are spoken by the majority of refugees arriving to Missouri:

• English – Minor language spoken by different refugee groups;
• Arabic – Native language in Arab League countries, minor language in Israel, Iran, Turkey, Eritrea, Mali, Niger, Chad, Senegal, South Sudan and Ethiopia;
• Kinyarwanda – Native language in Rwanda and parts of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo;
• Nepali – Native language in Nepal and parts of India and Bhutan;
• Sgaw Karen – Native language to parts of Burma, known officially as the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, and Thailand (note: individuals and families identifying as Burmese may speak distinctly different dialects of Burmese, the majority of which tend to be Karen, Shan, Rakhine, Chin or Mon);
• Somali – Native language in Somalia and Somaliland, parts of Djibouti and Ethiopia.

The videos and other available resources that may assist refugees in accessing health insurance are available at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/health.

The Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) has a Cultural Orientation Resource Center that has additional videos that show various refugee experiences as they settle into their new communities. These may be viewed at http://www.culturalorientation.net/learning/learning-videos and are free to use as needed.

NECESSARY ACTION:

• Review this information with appropriate staff.
• Share the links to these resources with refugee individuals and families as needed.

AC/lbh