States push for health care for adult migrants
CHICAGO — Most mornings, 62year-old Maria Elena Estamilla wakes up with pelvic pain and dread that she faces the same fate as her mother and grandmother: fatal cervical cancer.
The Chicago woman’s last full medical exam was in 2015 and she sees no options for care as a Mexican immigrant without permission to live in the U.S. She’s not eligible for Medicare, Medicaid or Affordable Care Act coverage. As a child care worker, she didn’t have employer coverage. She can’t afford private insurance. But things may soon change. Illinois is among a handful of Democratic-run states extending health insurance coverage to adult immigrants in the country illegally, including seniors. The state, which became the first to offer a Medicaid-like program for older immigrants last year, used a new budget to expand the program. California followed suit, including coverage for those 50 and over in the latest budget. And Oregon’s governor signed a plan this week offering benefits to low-income immigrants over 19.
While opponents question the cost and using taxpayer funding, experts believe it will ultimately save money and address looming issues with an aging immigrant population.
“This program can’t come any faster for me because of the pain and discomfort I feel,” Estamilla said. “I’m very scared.”
Immigrants, both with legal status and without, are more likely to be uninsured than citizens.
Barriers include cost and limited options. For instance, green card holders must wait five years for Medicaid eligibility.
Without action, America faces a health care crisis as immigrants age, said Arturo Vargas Bustamante, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles’ Fielding School of Public Health, adding that offering insurance will save money by reducing reliance on emergency rooms.
Leaders in Illinois and California say their solution is inching toward coverage for all, which also makes the high cost more politically palatable.
“Look at what immigrants do for our economy,” Democratic Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch said. “Including them in our health insurance, it keeps them healthy and allows them to go to work and compete and be able to contribute.”
The state dedicated $36 million of its recent $42 billion budget to expand coverage from those 65 and older to those 55 and older, including immigrants with legal status who don’t yet qualify for other help and those in the country illegally. More than 5,100 people have applied since December.
Republicans have criticized supporting noncitizens, while fiscal watchdogs question using state taxpayer funds.
Susan Shelley of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association said California’s Medicaid program already faces complaints it doesn’t pay doctors enough.
“It’s an overpromise, and it’s not addressing the priorities of the people already on the program,” she said.