It has been an historical year for the United States: two frontrunners in the race to become the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee were a black man and a woman. Without simplifying the accomplishments of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the impact of their candidacies on the future political environment of America should not be lost on the citizens of this country. Alas, there was something else this year that had never played such an important role in a presidential election cycle: the issue of health care.

Despite the temptation to suggest that it was Michael Moore’s SicKo that provided the impetus for this national discussion, I believe that it was a result of a tacit agreement between Mr. Obama, Mrs. Clinton and the other frontrunner, John Edwards – who exited the race in its early stages – to finally address a frequently ignored problem. Consequently, health care became a central campaign issue for all three Democrats and each candidate had detailed plans on how they would make health care accessible to a greater number – if not all – Americans.

The relevance of this campaign issue became especially poignant to the Armenian-American community when, tragically, AYF member Nataline Sarkisyan lost her life because the deplorable policies of Cigna Health care prevented her from getting a potentially life-saving organ transplant. Cigna’s purposeful obstruction of the procedure led to an outpouring of Armenian-American activists, along with health care advocacy groups and individuals, protesting the insurance company’s decision to place more importance on their finances than to save an individual’s life. The ensuing debacle was nationally televised and the Edwards campaign even flew the Sarkisyan family to New Hampshire to share their harrowing experience with the state’s constituents in an effort to show voters the seriousness of America’s health care woes.

As the only industrialized Western country to not offer universal health care and as the country with the most expensive health care system in the world, the debate in the United States has intensified. This article will endeavor to explain what is wrong with the health care system in America, what can be done to change it, and how this is all relevant to the Armenian-American community.

What About Health Care?

In America, health care is the responsibility of each individual or head of household, in the case of families with children. That means that, in most circumstances, a person pays for their own health care and that of their children out of their own pocket. The problem with this system is that since health insurance is provided mostly by private companies, they can charge whatever they like to those wanting to buy it and oftentimes, those prices are too expensive for middle-income to low-income workers. First, this can make it difficult even for a person who has a job that pays enough to take care of their family’s basic needs (e.g. housing, food, transportation) but who does not have much money to spend on other expenses. So, buying health insurance for oneself or one’s children becomes a “luxury” that only some can afford, although a person may be working full-time. Unlike other luxuries, health care is a service necessary for all segments of the population and its availability should not be limited solely to those who have extra money to spend.

Also, just like the weather, the economy is cyclical. Most of you reading this have probably been through a few of these up-down economic cycles and you know about the consequences of each: typically, high employment and market growth during up cycles, low employment and market decline in down cycles. The primary concern here is with those who do not have jobs, not because they do not want to work, but because there is no work available to them. A person in this situation is simply negatively affected by circumstance and he or she cannot be expected to buy health insurance in order to be able to go to the doctor, if need be.

In the most loathsome scenarios, insurance companies will refuse their health care plans to those with preexisting conditions. This means that if a child has leukemia or if a woman has breast cancer or if a man has a brain tumor before they have insurance, the insurance company can – and most likely will – deny an applicant because of the higher likelihood of death. Because of the exorbitant cost of uninsured health care, this is essentially a death sentence signed by the insurance companies.

What Can Be Done?

There have been numerous proposals of how to solve the problem of uninsured Americans and, fortunately, a few were made on the presidential campaign trail. Because of the varied living situations of the American populace, most of the proposals have been multifaceted. For example, people would have the choice to either keep the insurance plan provided by their employer or buy into a reasonably-priced program offered by the U.S. government. Most universal health care programs would provide coverage regardless of employment status, making sure that unemployment does not result in the loss of health insurance.

Included in the health care coverage would be regular and unexpected doctor visits, access to necessary pharmaceutical drugs and insurance for health-oriented (i.e. not plastic) surgeries. Also, it would guarantee that those with preexisting conditions would still be able to afford health care, giving them a higher chance of surviving their illness. Such a system would ensure that everyone would receive, at least, basic medical attention required for a normal, healthy life – or, at least, its pursuit.

Where Do We Fit In?

Very simply, any of the aforementioned issues can apply to Armenian-Americans; unfortunately, one of them did and we lost Nataline Sarkisyan because of it. As Americans, we need to be concerned that many people who need medical attention do not receive it although they contribute their fair share to the economic well-being of the country and duly pay their taxes.

As Armenians, the tenets of our culture which have given us an admirable reputation as hospitable and respectful people should be parlayed into a sense of social justice that can be partially achieved through the implementation of universal health care.

It is, as I said, an historical time in the United States and if we, as Armenian-Americans, can agree that health care is the right of each individual, we can be a part of that history – a part of potentially the greatest social change this generation of Americans will ever see.

By Razmig Nalpatian
“Arshavir Shiragian” Chapter
Buenos Aires, Argentina

The South American Armenian community emerged as a consequence of the Armenian Genocide. It had been created by the first refugees that arrived to the region between 1918 -1928, escaping from the atrocities that the Ottoman Empire was committing against the Armenians. After establishing and starting a new life far from their ancestral homes and belongings, they founded Armenian community organizations and institutions as a way of sticking together and maintaining their cultural identity.

Throughout years, the Armenian population in the area has increased quite a bit and, currently, a fourth generation of Armenians is taking root. The Armenian community in Argentina is the largest with a population of 120,000. The major concentrations are in the capital Buenos Aires, with 105,000, and in Cordoba, with 15,000, but also include such smaller cities as Rosario, Mar del Plata, and so on.

Coming in behind Argentina is Uruguay, with somewhere around 15,000 to 20,000 Armenians. Next is Brazil with 3,500 and, finally, Chile with 1,000. However, these numbers do not accurately portray the level of Armenians who are actively involved in the community.   Unfortunately for us, a low percentage—most guess about 10% to 20%—participate consistently in Armenian community life.

In South America, the Armenian Youth Federation is known as UJA, Unión Juventud Armenia.  It was founded in 1941 in Buenos Aires and, soon after, many other chapters arose in the region, creating a South American network of UJA’s. Today, we have chapters in Buenos Aires, Uruguay, Cordoba and Brazil, and our total number of active members in the region is approximately eighty.

Unfortunately, the task of fending off assimilation has been a difficult one for us outside of the homeland.  In the late 1990s, our organization was in a state of flux and struggling to stay active. Also, at the same time, our region was suffering the social and economic consequences of failed neoliberal policy measures applied by the governments in power and this affected Armenians of the region quite strongly, as well.

By 2002, the tide began to turn and there was a rejuvenation of UJA activism in the region.  Many chapters saw an influx of new members and a reinvigorated spirit of commitment to the Armenian community.  In my hometown of Buenos Aires, there is even a new chapter, “Sahigian” in Flores, in addition to the already existing “Soghomon Tehlirian” chapter in Valentín Alsina and “Arshavir Shiragian” chapter in Palermo.

The names of all of the chapters in the region are as follows:

• Buenos Aires, Argentina:
  • Arshavir Shiragian
  • Soghomon Tehlirian
  • Sahigian
• Córdoba, Argentina:
  • Aram Yerganian
• Montevideo, Uruguay:
  • Misak Torlakian
• San Pablo, Brazil:
  • Tr0

These chapters often have meetings once a week, usually at nights in the agump or in a local Armenian school. After having had our discussions we like to take time to go out together to either eat pizza or go to an Armenian restaurant or just relax and have fun with friends. In my opinion these types of outings are a great idea because, after a tough and busy week, getting to relax with friends is truly priceless.

In addition, we hold several seminars annually where all the chapters in the region participate. In these regional seminars, we attend lectures about such topics as Hai Tad, Armenian history, socialist ideology, how to be better community leaders, world affairs and developments in Armenia.

In order to accommodate everyone and make the organizational and travel issues as fair as possible, we try to have these seminars in a different city each time. Often, when deciding upon the next city and date, there tend to be intense discussions due to every representative wanting to defend their chapter’s interest. In each city or country the holidays are different, so it is very difficult to come to an agreement but, somehow, we always do and manage to continue being friends in the process.

We also have our regional summer camp which, if schedules and conditions permit, we try to have consistently every summer. Unfortunately, last summer we could not organize the camp due to the logistical difficulties. However, I am glad to report that the camp will be taking place this year from December 27-29 (our seasons our reversed) in Colonia, Uruguay and we are all anxiously awaiting this gathering. Such occasions are very important for us in our region since we very rarely have the opportunity to see our friends from different cities and, each time, we have a lot of fun renovating our ties as Armenian youth.

Another occasion which we look forward to just as much is the opportunity to meet our fellow ungers from other parts of the world. Our region has had the pleasure of attending various international meetings, like the World Social Forum in Brazil in 2005 and Venezuela in 2006, alongside other Armenian youth. We have also sent delegations to the American Social Forum in Ecuador in 2006 and the Pan-Armenian AYF Camp in Armenia in 2007, where we had one member from Buenos Aires and another from Cordoba participate.

For us, being so far from our homeland and having certain difficulties in raising money to travel it is a significant problem. So, when some of us do have the opportunity to travel abroad it is a major event for us and we feel that, in a way, our whole region is accompanying those individuals fortunate enough to make the trek. It is a bit difficult to explain this feeling but I am sure that our South American ungers understand very well what I am talking about.

In the area of communications, our regional media is also growing through the use of new mediums and resources. For example we have a blog, yeridasartagan.blogspot.com, where we upload documents, speeches and different things that may interest the youth. The same is true of our web page, www.ujafra.org (currently being updated). What’s more, we have our magazine Gamk which is published twice a year. In it we try to deal with topics related to Armenia, Argentina, human rights and world events. In our blog, we feature various issues of Gamk in digital format in order to extend our mission to as many people as possible.

Of course, as the youth of our community, we also lead many Armenian Genocide recognition efforts. Perhaps the largest April 24 commemorative event in all of South America is the march we organize every year in front of the Turkish ambassador’s residence in Buenos Aires.  During the march, we lead a procession of over 1000 Armenians with torches and candles towards the residence, from where he hold a rally featuring speeches and demonstrative cultural acts.

Finally, we have two very important other activities on the regional level that are soon to be especially significant for the community. The first one is a campaign called “I WANT TO BE A CITIZIEN” which is related to the Armenian Dual Citizenship Law promoted by the ARF. This consists of making this law a reality for the Armenians living in South America. The main goals are to make Armenians aware of this important issue and encourage them to strive for Armenian citizenship.

The other activity we are working on is collaboration with a major Jewish student organization. The project is a competition in which the participants have to write essays about human rights for the 60th anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights. We have carried out similar cooperative efforts with non-Armenian organizations in the past and believe that being aware of other issues not exclusively Armenian is very important. It is also important to build bridges and alliances with other groups sharing similar concerns.

To sum up, our region continues to face the daunting problem of assimilation because, as I explained before, we are a long-standing community and the pressures to stray away from Armenian life and latch on to non-Armenian organizations and institutions are very big in our region.

The Armenian Youth Federation of South America is working to attract those young people that are not participating actively and also to keep the youth as the main character of the community. This is a complicated goal but I think that working together simultaneously and improving our every-day communication to overcome the distance barrier will lead us ultimately to success.