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Laura Lopez, left, checks the blood pressure of Santos Aguilar Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013, at the Street Level Health Project in Oakland, Calif. In trying to brand California's new health care exchange, state officials had a hard time coming up with a name that signified health insurance, let alone one that would translate well into other languages such as Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog and Vietnamese. The exchange's 5-member board settled on "Covered California" and is currently testing tag lines to see which words resonate best in focus groups. Lopez applauds the exchange for pledging to offer written materials in different languages. But she says the state will have to commit to providing one-on-one interpretive resources because some are illiterate, some don't believe they are qualified for assistance, and some don't know how to advocate for themselves. Many families will also have members with different legal statuses. Covered California estimates there are 5.6 million Californians without health insurance, or 16 percent of the population under age 65. Of that number, 4.6 million people are eligible for coverage under the Affordable Care Act and one million are ineligible due to their immigration status. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

OAKLAND -- Set on a gritty corner of Oakland's International Boulevard, the nonprofit Street Level Health Project offers free checkups to patients who speak a total of 22 languages, from recent Mongolian immigrants seeking a doctor to Burmese refugees needing a dental exam.

It also opens a window on one of the challenges for state leaders who are trying to implement the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama's sweeping health care overhaul.

Understanding the law and its possibilities for ordinary citizens is a task even for politicians and bureaucrats, but delivering its message to non-English speakers who can benefit from it is shaping up as a special complication. That is especially true in places

Chan Lai Ly has his feet examined as part of a regular check-up related to his diabetes, by Honghue Duong, a physician's assistant, Friday, March 1, 2013 at International Community Health Services in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) (Ted S. Warren)

Even deciding what to call a health insurance program generates angst in a polyglot state. California's health-care insurance marketplace staff is testing "Covered California."

That would be "California Cubierto" in Spanish, but "what does it mean?" asked Laura Lopez, the Street Level clinic's executive director.

But the main feature of health care reform -- the state's health insurance exchange opening next year -- will require consumers to contrast and compare the features and costs of a range of private health insurance policies to select the one most

That could be a tall task for native English speakers, but more so for residents who speak English "less than very well."

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Health care reform opportunities a challenge for populations with many languages