Members of the Congressional Black Caucus will kick off the “Making Good Health My Reality” tour on July 20.The eight-city campaign will provide minority districts with information on Patient Protection and the Affordable Care Act.

Starting in the Virgin Islands district of Del. Donna Christensen, the tour will extend to Chicago, Illinois; Oakland, California; Miami, Florida; Dallas, Texas; Brooklyn, N.Y.; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Baltimore, Maryland. It will focus on access to health insurance exchanges and health law, the Black Caucus said in a statement.

“There’s still so much misinformation out there about the Affordable Care Act,” Christensen said to Politico. “We want to make sure that our communities are prepared and know what to expect and are ready to take advantage of both the enrollment and Medicaid expansion where it exists.”

More than 103 million people of color in the U.S. suffer disproportionately in the health care system and 18 percent of African Americans under 65 years old do not have health coverage, according to the NAACP.
The opening of health insurance exchanges is one of the largest Obamacare provisions. Health insurance exchanges are online marketplaces where people can purchase insurance if they don’t already receive coverage from an employer or public provider such as Medicare, Medicaid or the military.

Yet 79 percent of the general public and 87 percent of people who don’t have health insurance lack information about the exchanges, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

While the tour is not intended to express support for Obamacare, it will “ensure communities are equipped with the information they need,” said the Black Caucus.

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(Photo: Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call)