LGBT/Pride Week
June is LGBT pride month. We have a variety of queer AAPI's, friends, families and allies posting about their experiences. Thanks to Be DeGuzman, one of APAP's 2009 Unsung Heroes, for coordinating this special week of posts.
To help with our upcoming hate crimes/Vincent Chin week (June 21) or Pacific Islander week (Aug), please let us know. If you have a topic you or your agency would like to coordinate, email us.
Each day we hear about the need to reform our health care system, and often the conversation focuses on those trying to derail the process. We often hear about the skyrocketing costs leading to bankruptcy for many families, the insurance company profit margins and the economic costs and benefits reform could potentially bring. What we don’t hear about are the large swaths of the American population that will be left out entirely. Among them: Immigrants.
Current legislative proposals would create an “Exchange” or a pool that individuals in need of health care would be able to opt into in order to select a plan. For the low to moderate income, subsidies would be available to help offset costs and to insure the largest number of people possible would have access to coverage. Unfortunately, under current law, immigrants must wait five years to access a federally funded program such as the subsidies.
In 1996, Congress and the Clinton Administration overhauled the welfare system, but in doing so they established a five year waiting period for legal permanent residents (ie, immigrants with green cards) to access federally funded public benefit programs such as Medicare, Medicaid (known in California as Medi-Cal), Food Stamps and Social Security Income stipends. For many low-income and struggling Asian Americans in California, this waiting period was more like a prison sentence.
This kind of wait period disproportionately impacts Asian Americans who are the fastest growing major ethnic group in the nation. Last year, more than 380,000 individuals came from Asia to the United States and legal permanent residents. And despite working, living and paying the same taxes as US Citizens, all of those people as well as the more than 1 million people who had come as a LPRs since 2004 would be ineligible for the lower cost health care, if the five year wait period is not removed.
Our diverse API communities face serious health disparities, which make health coverage essential. A recent report identifies that cancer is the leading cause of death for Asian Americans and that South Asians and Pacific Islanders face high rates of chronic disease such as diabetes and heart disease. In addition, much of our community continues to lack health coverage, with Korean Americans facing some of the largest numbers of uninsured.
Everyone needs health care and our doctors and nurses aren’t going to simply let people face a death sentence for lacking insurance coverage. By having everyone in our communities buy health insurance they can afford, we ensure a healthier society. Congress must remove the five year wait period for immigrant communities so that struggling Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders can have access to affordable health coverage.
Sara Sadhwani currently serves as Director of the Immigrant Rights Project at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center.
APAP is a national network of progressive Asian Americans and allies. We count on the support of our members and friends to continue our work of advancing progressive ideas. Please consider joining today.
Membership is just $20 per year and members receive discounts to events and merchandise.
| User | Points |
|---|---|
| curtis | 1581 |
| ebeh | 1161 |
| Madhuri | 790 |
| spamfriedrice | 551 |
| oliveoil | 341 |
| erinjerri | 309 |
| Calvin Prashad | 287 |
| JennyG | 281 |
| jenn | 219 |
| Intern | 120 |
Thanks Sara for your very informative post. Legal Permanent Residents pay taxes and make valuable contributions to society. People who work in this country and pay taxes should have access to affordable health care, regardless of citizenship status. Five years is too long to wait to be able to afford health care, and could mean the difference between life and death. The five year wait law disproportionaly impacts immigrant communities and should be repealed!
The point of your article is well-taken. However, I think its important to point out that your statement regarding the number of people that would be "ineligible" for lower cost health care overstates the proble.
One example, approximately one-quarter of the new LPRs come in on employer-based preferences and therefore the likelihood that they have employer-provided health coverage for them and their family is quite high. As such, they would then benefit from health reform as a whole.
My point is, it might more effective to try to determine how many people ARE actually without health coverage, which might make the problem easier to manage as opposed to overstating the problem and assuming that people will be quicker to act because it seems so acute..
Thanks Kant, excellent observation. Its challenging to actually identify that number. But as you point out, only about twenty-five percent of LPRs are here for employment. However, anecdotally we know that fewer and fewer employers are offering health insurance as a benefit and the number who offer full coverage for both the employee and full family is also declining.
The other 75% of LPRs make up family members such as spouses & children, parents, adult children, and some brothers and sisters. Even with employer health coverage, most of these folks would not be covered.
Some stats are available: We know that Korean Americans face some of the highest rates of uninsured: 33% of Koreans in California are uninsured (state average is 15%, see UCLA report referenced in post). Amongst women, who make up more than 50% of total immigrants to the US, 57% of women polled (for a recent study by New America Media) lack health insurance. That's a staggering number and an atrocious disparity.
Thanks for reminding us about the need to remove this persistent discrimination against legal immigrants as we work to reform our health care system. The five year waiting period has got to go. It's bad policy, it wastes money, and it's un-American.
This article the work of the author's health. I have always followed this style of writing was sequel. I already saw the <a href="http://www.youtubeask.com" title="youtube">youtube</a> video site video about it. also a member of a group I am in the <a href="http://www.youtube61.com/facebook" title="facebook">facebook</a> site. I would like to specify that descriptive See this article informed me more.
Thank you to the article author.
Post new comment