Health Access Activity Highlights - First Half of 2007
California Health Reform, Community Health Promoters, Immigrant Day
California Health Reform
With almost 7 million Californians without health insurance, the need for change in our healthcare system has spurred much discussion in Sacramento. To ensure that the needs of immigrant communities and communities of color are being considered in the debate, KRC joined with 37 other organizations across the state, forming the ad-hoc Having Our Say Coalition. To increase community awareness, KRC held a press conference to update community members of the 4 health reform proposals, hosted a community roundtable discussion to hear the concerns of community members and conducted an education workshop with Community Health Promoters. Currently, KRC is collecting stories from individual community members who have had difficulty accessing health services due to lack of affordable coverage and language barriers. Health care coverage affects every Californian. By working together, we can achieve universal healthcare coverage for ALL children and health insurance that we can afford to buy and use.
Community Health Promoters
The Community Health Promoters, a senior citizens advocacy group, has completed an intensive series of educational workshops on public health benefits, advocacy and community organizing. Korean American seniors have been in a constant state of worry because they cannot understand the letters they are receiving from Medi-Cal. The consequently depend on others to see if their Medi-Cal benefits are in danger of being discontinued or if they need to supply additional information for their Medi-Cal cases. These all-too frequent incidences are in violation of civil rights laws must be addressed. In April, the Community Health Promoters drafted a letter containing their Medi-Cal Language Access campaign principles. The principles have been delivered to 5 state legislators asking for support for making language access a priority in California. The principles will also provide a base to start a conversation with Department of Public Social Services to ensure that Medi-Cal Notices of Action will be sent in the preferred language. Communicating with case workers and understanding written notices is not a privilege but a basic right.
Immigrant Day
On May 20, 2007, 32 Korean American community members from Los Angeles traveled to Sacramento, California to participate in the 11th Annual Immigrant Day. During the event, Korean American seniors and young adults visited the offices of Senator Keuhl, Senator Mark Ridley Thomas, Assemblymember Mike Davis, Assemblymember Karen Bass, Assemblymember Ed Hernandez and Senator Jenny Oropeza to educate legislators on the needs of the Korean American community in regards to health reform, immigration policy and language access in public health benefits. Due to the efforts of more than 400 immigrant California residents, funding for the Naturalization Service Program has been increased from 3 million dollars to 5 million dollars. We hope to see more changes that will improve the quality of life for immigrant communities in California.
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