Program for undocumented expands
SALINAS >> A Monterey County health program critical to aiding undocumented and uninsured immigrant families obtain medical treatment has been expanded.
Working with clinics and the nonprofit Communities Organized for Relational Power in Action, or COPA, the county, through Natividad Medical Center, had been providing the Esperanza care program to roughly 3,500 county residents.
On Wednesday, Dr. Chad Harris, the interim chief executive of Natividad, announced the program as of July 1 will expand to now help some 4,500 residents.
Esperanza, which is administered by Burlingame-based Pacific Health Alliance, a managed care company, is open to people who are 26 years old or older and earn less than 138% of the federal poverty level, Harris said.
Harris said the program is not insurance, rather a way for Natividad to provide primary care, which can then refer patients to specialty services such as lab work, imaging and limited pharmacy services. Natividad, in addition to being the only Level II trauma center in the region, is also the county’s safety-net medical provider.
By any standard the need is great. Harris estimates that there are anywhere between 45,000 and 50,000 residents in the county who are uninsured. Esperanza launched in 2015 as a pilot health program and has expanded once since then.
Many residents live in mixed immigration-status families, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, where one family member may be undocumented.