California just took another step to expand access to health insurance for its immigrant community: The state will fund health coverage through next year for about 40,000 low-income, undocumented young adults, who were at risk of losing the state's Medicaid program. -Lime.
Beatriz Hernandez, a young Mexican from Guadalajara, Jalisco, is part of that group.
"This is amazing. I'm happy," she said after hearing the good news.
"It means much more to us than not losing the Medi-Cal card," he said in an interview with Noticias Telemundo, "it is being able to obtain prescriptions for glasses, medication for any type of health problem,
all these things that keep us healthy
,
to be well for ourselves, our families and the people we love
, and to be able to be fully part of society".
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Beatriz Hernandez, a young immigrant, leads an event of the 'Health4All' campaign to bring a heart on Valentine's Day to state representatives with messages of thanks for promoting coverage of all undocumented immigrants in California.
Courtesy Beatriz Hernandez
Since 2019, California has offered health coverage with Medi-Cal to low-income residents up to 25 years old, regardless of their immigration status, and that has allowed the young migrant to have insurance.
In the summer, the state legislature approved Governor Gavin Newsom's budget, which includes funds to expand the program to undocumented immigrants between the ages of 26 and 49.
But it will be implemented from
January 2024
.
Meanwhile, it is estimated that 40,000 young beneficiaries have reached or will reach the age of 26 and may be left without coverage in the transition.
It happened to Beatriz on March 1: it was her 26th birthday. And she felt it bittersweet: “
I am grateful to have another year of life, but it is very sad
because that also means that many things are going to change: I am no longer going to have that medical access and I don't know what I'm going to do."
The new policy announced this Monday by the Department of Health Care Services aims precisely to resolve this gap and guarantee continuous coverage: the state will cover the health insurance of these young people until the end of 2023.
The measure is an achievement of the community, says enthusiastically Beatriz, who has been working for years as an organizer for access to health for the California Immigrant Policy Center.
“I am so proud of the
Health For All Coalition
, all the activists and everyone who pushed hard to make this happen,” she said.
An entire family without documents
The young migrant arrived in the Central Valley of California with her family when she was 12 years old, and they have not yet been able to regularize their status.
“I am undocumented, I do not have DACA, and my parents and my brothers are in the same situation.
The whole family is undocumented,” says Beatriz.
She has been able to see then, she adds, in her own home the impact of each step of the state for the health of migrants.
First, California offered Medi-Cal coverage to undocumented immigrants up to the age of 19, and there her three brothers were able to go to the doctor.
But she, being older, went through a difficult and stressful financial situation: she had to pay 1,000 dollars more per semester in college for not having insurance.
When, in 2019, the state was able to expand Medi-Cal to undocumented immigrants up to age 25, her life changed.
“I can have glasses, go to the dentist, have regular appointments and have a trusted doctor,” she explains.
[How can Latino families access health coverage in the US]
His parents, on the other hand, have had only emergency coverage, without regular health services for a better quality of life.
“
My dad, like me, suffers from depression
”, says the young woman as an example.
"I am on medication and I have therapies, but in the case of my father it is different."
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His mom worries him too.
“He can only go to the doctor if his situation is completely emergency or very serious”, but she cannot carry out controls and follow-up.
“
Her health is at risk in one way or another
”, she summarizes.
California made a little more progress this year: Starting in May, it offered coverage for low-income people over 50 regardless of immigration status (you can check online if you qualify).
That will benefit Beatriz's father.
The last extension of Medi-Cal approved in the summer for the age group that was pending, undocumented people from 26 to 49 years old, will finally reach her mother, in 2024.
chain benefits
The young woman says that the motivation and the message is that what has been achieved is not only important for one person, but for the whole community: “
we need everyone to be healthy so that we can all be well
”.
What they experience at home also affects their mother at work, their siblings at school, and so on.
"That my dad has depression and episodes, or when I went through my depression, not only affects me or him, but the entire nucleus of the family," she explains.
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Nationwide, about 22.1 million people were living without papers in the country in 2020, or about 7% of the population, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to health care.
These people are not eligible for most federal public benefit programs, although many have jobs and pay taxes.
In this context, California is a somewhat exceptional case: in 2024 it will offer free or low-cost health coverage to low-income undocumented immigrants of all ages, regardless of their immigration status.
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The latest announcement from the state in favor of immigrants like Beatriz will be an invaluable help until that moment arrives.
"Protecting these young adults
will prevent unnecessary interruptions in care
and, as a result, will keep them covered and healthier," Iván Barragán, Coordinator of Policies, Health and Public Benefits at the Immigrant Policy Center, explains to Noticias Telemundo.
"Once again, California is leading the way in keeping our communities healthier," he said.