⏩ Advocates want insurance for CT’s undocumented community.

Surviving in America as undocumented immigrants has never been easy for Olga Gutierrez and her family.

But it’s only become more difficult during the coronavirus pandemic. Both Gutierriez, a native of Honduras and Bridgeport resident, and her husband lost their jobs during the public health crisis. Because of their immigration status, they don’t qualify for unemployment benefits and won’t receive federal stimulus checks.

Even when employed, neither had health insurance. Rather than seek professional medical assistance, the family, like many others, was forced to rely on home remedies.

“Going to the hospital is a privilege and we don’t have that,” Gutierriez said. “We don’t have the money to really invest in medical bills because we have two children to take care of.”

That lack of access became especially apparent when a member of the household recently tested positive for the coronavirus. Treatment was not an option. With no income and no insurance, the cost was prohibitively high.

“We were terrified. We think that we might have the virus, too.” Gutierrez said. “We (the undocumented) are the most affected because we don’t have any health care coverage. We don’t receive any support from the government . .... Families like mine have the right to be treated with respect and dignity.”

Guiterrez shared her story during a Thursday virtual press conference, at which a coalition of immigrant- and health care-advocacy groups called on Gov. Ned Lamont to expand health care access to members of the state’s undocumented community, who have been among the most severely affected by the pandemic.

“We’re here today because our undocumented community is being denied access to health care and that is preventing them from leading healthy lives,” said Kimberly Alexander, an organizer with the non-profit Connecticut Students for a Dream, one of the groups that coordinated the event and started an online petition. “This pandemic is making it very clear that the only way to have a healthy state is to ensure that everyone — everyone, including undocumented immigrants — can access health care.”

Alexander said the push to expand Husky — the state’s health insurance marketplace — eligibility began in 2019. According to the coalition, undocumented immigrants are not able to buy into AccessHealth CT and are ineligible for Medicaid, Medicare and other state and federal health coverage programs. The roughly 120,000 undocumented Connecticut residents pay roughly $145 million annually in taxes that fund programs like Husky.

To this point, Lamont had not signaled whether he would heed the calls.

“I worry for the health and safety of the patients I see, but I worry even more for the ones that I do not see. The patients who do not come to the clinic because they cannot access care easily without health insurance.” said Dr. Julie Rosenberg, a New Haven pediatrician and research fellow.

Rosenberg is among more than 240 health care providers who have signed a letter being sent to Lamont urging health care expansion. The move, she said, would not be without precedent. California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Washington and the District of Columbia, all provide health insurance eligibility to all children regardless of their immigration status.

Last year, the Connecticut General Assembly voted a similar bill out of committee, Rosenberg pointed out.

“We are poised and ready to make this change that will benefit the health and the residents of our state,” Rosenberg said.

A group of religious leaders, represented on the call by Rabbi Randall Konigsburg, of Beth Sholom B'nai Israel Congregation in Manchester, and of the Interfaith Fellowship for Universal Health Care, from around the state have also voiced its support for the expansion. Konigsburg made a moral and economic case for the expansion of the program.

“It is far cheaper and it is much better to cure illness when in its early stages, rather than after it has ravaged the body,” Konigsburg said. “Preventative care is critical for public health.”

According to a recent study (based on 2018 Census data) from the Center for Migration Studies of New York, a non-partisan think tank, 18.7 percent of all essential workers in Connecticut are foreignborn. A quarter of those are undocumented.

Cloe Poisson / Contributed photo Julio Ortega and his wife, Olga Gutierrez, sit on the front steps of the two-family house where they live with their two children, Julio Jr., 11, and Gissel, 17, and twelve other family members in Bridgeport. Two members of their extended family recently tested positive for COVID-19 — Gutierrez’s sister, who is quarantined in a bedroom in their apartment, and her brother-in-law who is hospitalized. The family is unable to get tested for the virus because they are not exhibiting symptoms.