PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 3, 2025

AAPCHO Statement on President Trump’s Executive Order Designating English as Official Language

Underscores Language Access Services are Essential to Improving Health Outcomes

WASHINGTON—The Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO) released the following statement underscoring the importance of language access in improving health outcomes and promoting efficiencies and cost-effectiveness in health care. President Trump issued an executive order on March 1, 2025 designating English as the official language of the United States. The executive order also rescinded the Clinton-era EO13166 that required federal entities to improve access to federally conducted and federally assisted programs and activities for individuals with limited English proficiency.

Adam Carbullido, AAPCHO’s director of policy and advocacy, said:

“Language access services are essential to improving health outcomes, ensuring that communications between patients and their health care team are clear and understood. In a health care setting, in-language communication can quite literally be the difference between life and death, and it helps reduce medical errors, which ultimately lowers healthcare costs.

“Health care providers see every day the benefits language assistance programs they provide have to their patients, their patients’ families, and communities. Language access protections required by federal civil rights laws have been instrumental to improving the ability of all individuals to get the care they need. Language access services–including the use of interpreters, translated materials, and multilingual staff–help patients understand their conditions and treatment options. This leads to better decision-making and increased efficiencies between patients, insurers, and health care teams.

“We urge entities serving individuals with limited English proficiency to continue providing language assistance that their patients and beneficiaries rely on and is required by federal law. AAPCHO will continue to promote the importance of language access and policies that center the needs of patients to communicate with their doctors in a language they can understand.”

About AAPCHO 

AAPCHO is a national association of community health organizations dedicated to promoting advocacy, collaboration and leadership that improves the health status and access of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders in the United States, the U.S. territories, and Freely Associated States. For more information on AAPCHO, please visit www.aapcho.org. 

Contact 

Beverly Quintana, (510) 272-9536, bquintana@aapcho.org