PRESIDENT Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act aims to give health care coverage to millions of uninsured Americans, but community advocates say many are still left out, especially because of their immigration status.
This is especially true for California, home to the most number of Filipinos living in America. This is what one California lawmaker is trying to change that with the “Health Care for All” bill.
As Balitang America reported, this bill is expected to be re-introduced by State Sen. Ricardo Lara in November, and like the previous bill, it is expected to be co-sponsored by Filipino American Assemblyman Rob Bonta.
Senator Lara explained this bill at a New America Media briefing recently.
“It’s going to save us money in the long term,” he said. “We’re going to be able to have a healthier community, and when we say health care for all, we mean health care for all. Unfortunately, the federal government doesn’t cover our undocumented communities, and we have a lot of families who are mixed households where some have health insurance and some don’t, because of immigration status.”
Undocumented immigrants have just been waiting for the immigration reform to pass, or for President Obama to issue an executive order to give them deportation relief, so they can have access to health care insurance coverage in case they become inflicted with a disease that will require expensive hospitalization and medication. Unfortunately, going back to the Philippines is not an option to many of them.
“We all go through aches and pains, and a lot rely on over-the-counter medicines, ”undocumented immigrant Alessandro Negrete said in a Balitang America report by Correspondent Steve Angeles.
“A lot of us go to emergency rooms and if we were a smart state we would realize that preventive care is a lot less costly than emergency care. A lot of those services provided we’d save a lot of money,” he said.
Community advocates say there is one group that can get state funded subsidized health care coverage. They point out that California-based DREAMers, under the Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), are eligible for certain medical coverage in the Golden State.
“I was relieved by the fact now that I was able now to go to the doctor and not be worried about my hospital bill,” DACA recipient Reyna Moreno said on Balitang America.
“The problem is the word isn’t out, especially in the Asian student undocumented population,” said Sandy Close of New America Media. “They may have DACA status. They don’t know they qualify for medical.”
What is perplexing is the fact that as it is, advocates are already having a hard time convincing more undocumented youth to apply for DACA. To date, only 4,000 kababayans have applied for the relief.
Balitang America Correspondent Steve Angeles said Senator Lara will take the next few weeks to iron out the “Health Care for All” bill, exploring the possibilities of protecting beneficiaries and also figuring out how to fund the proposed bill.
After airing this report, The Filipino Channel’s Balitang America poll asked its viewers “ SHOULD TAXPAYERS’ MONEY PAY FOR HEALTH CARE FOR UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS?”
An overwhelming majority of those who voted — 86 percent — said NO. They say the taxpayers’ money should go toward services that address the need of those who are in America legally and are paying taxes dutifully.
Only 14% say they agree taxpayers have the responsibility to pay for health care for the undocumented for humanitarian reasons.
Community leader and fellow Asian Journal columnist Prosy Delacruz passionately wrote on Facebook in response to this question:
“What a question? Would you think that EBOLA virus will know whether you are documented or undocumented? Asking this question pegs the viewers to be biased, prejudicial and uncaring, yet they must be involved as American citizens and green card residents, some who are also TNT. I totally get aghast with this seeming innocent ISYU ngayon but what it does is stoke prejudices, instead of educating our kababayans to be participating, involved, caring citizen/voters. When our citizen/voter Kababayans are invisible in the election results, we lose our impact as a community and these questions enable such.”
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
