Contact: Julian Gonzalez, julian@paschalroth.com
SACRAMENTO, CA – The California Pan-Ethnic Health Network today called for legislators to reject devastating health care cuts for immigrant families proposed in Governor Newsom’s May Revision budget and instead focus on addressing the real cost drivers of health care: corporate profits. CPEHN also called for creating a more equitable revenue system for California to support essential safety net care, rather than buckling in the face of federal threats. CPEHN Executive Director Kiran Savage- Sangwan made the following statement:
“Congressional Republicans are rushing to terminate Medi-Cal care for millions of Californians. Children are left watching as their parents are seized from our communities, for no other reason than where they were born. There’s no question that extremist actions in the federal government are leaving Californians afraid and our state budget uncertain – but these attacks on our lives and our health are reasons state officials must show strong leadership, not surrender to an extremist agenda.
“Creating a new revenue stream off the poverty earnings of immigrant families is cruel and unacceptable; imposing $100 monthly health care premiums on a family of four making $32,500 is a cut of 7.5% to their income; the practical effect is to lock them out of health care. Yet this budget proposes to generate $2 billion annually off their already razor-thin family budgets, 16% of the budget deficit, with 0% contributed by the wealthy or corporations.
“Likewise, CPEHN calls for legislators to resoundingly reject cuts that rip dental care and long-term care away from immigrant families. When California eliminated dental benefits in Medi-Cal during the Great Recession, community members reported that their families skipped meals to pay for dental care. Seniors had to scrape together what little cash they had for poorly made dentures that gave them mouth sores. Terminating In-Home Supportive Services for immigrant families means forcing parents into an unthinkable choice: putting their disabled children in an institution or putting food on the table. It means denying dignity to elderly immigrants who worked their whole lives in backbreaking agricultural, cleaning and food service jobs that benefit our state.
“These budget choices don’t promote health – they will deepen disparities, reverse our state’s nation-leading effort to reduce the number of uninsured Californians, and will only create higher health care costs in the long run. We are aware that paying for Medi-Cal is made more complicated by Prop. 35’s rigid formulas that lock up billions of dollars for select providers – policies for which immigrant families are now being asked to bear the burden.
“We reject the notion that the world’s fourth-largest economy has no better options than forcing Californians fleeing violence and persecution in their home countries to choose between food and medicine. We know what it takes to truly bring down health care costs: rooting out corporate greed at every level of health care, from insurance companies to hospital care to prescription medicine.
“CPHEN looks forward to working with Governor Newsom and Legislature to address the runaway costs corporations force on taxpayers and to explore revenue options needed to guarantee essential health care access for every Californian, regardless of immigration status.”