{"id":73498,"date":"2025-06-13T11:16:43","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T18:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=73498"},"modified":"2025-06-13T11:16:43","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T18:16:43","slug":"medi-cal-cuts-threaten-undocumented-immigrants-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=73498","title":{"rendered":"Medi-Cal Cuts Threaten Undocumented Immigrants\u2019 Health"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Roxsy Lin<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Amid statewide immigration crackdowns, undocumented immigrants now face another threat: losing their health care.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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For Daniela and her husband, Jose, undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. over 30 years, Medi-Cal is a lifeline. (Art by Roxsy Lin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Amid statewide immigration crackdowns, undocumented immigrants now face another threat: losing their health care.<\/p>\n

Governor Gavin Newsom\u00a0announced a proposal in mid-May<\/a>\u00a0that would significantly change Medi-Cal access for undocumented immigrants aged 19 and older, starting in 2026. The plan includes a freeze on new enrollments, the introduction of a $100 monthly premium and the elimination of dental and long-term care coverage.<\/p>\n

The measure, which is expected to save the government over $5 billion, must be included in the state budget and approved by the California Legislature before it can take effect.<\/p>\n

For Daniela and her husband, Jose (we are not using their real names to protect their privacy) \u2014 both undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. over 30 years and currently residing in San Bernardino with their two children \u2014 Medi-Cal is a lifeline.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Jose received a diagnosis of sleep apnea so severe that his oxygen levels dropped dangerously low, landing him in the hospital for two weeks. For a year after his discharge, he had to use an in-home oxygen concentrator at all times.<\/p>\n

During that time, Medi-Cal made it possible for the couple to access specialists, medications, essential equipment maintenance and a weekly home visit from a nurse for checkups on Jose\u2019s recovery \u2014 care that would have been out of reach otherwise.<\/p>\n

That support didn\u2019t end with Jose\u2019s recovery.<\/p>\n

Today, he depends on a CPAP machine to breathe properly while sleeping at night, and during daytime naps. The machine, vital to his health, requires regular maintenance including monthly filter changes and replacement of hoses and masks.<\/p>\n

Medi-Cal continues to cover these ongoing expenses \u2014 in addition to regular doctor check-ups and medications to manage his high blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol \u2014 easing an otherwise insurmountable financial burden for the family.<\/p>\n

If the upkeep of Jose\u2019s CPAP machine were unaffordable and the device were to stop working due to a lack of maintenance, for instance, it could compromise his breathing, putting his life in danger and undoing years of progress in his recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod keeps me alive with this machine right now,\u201d said Jos\u00e9 in Spanish. \u201cWe have to live with what God lends us, but if he lends us things and they want to take them away, what are we going to do?\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about the possibility of having to pay a $100 monthly premium each, the couple didn\u2019t hesitate to share their concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t afford it. We either eat or we pay, because it\u2019s too much to pay $200 a month,\u201d said Daniela.<\/p>\n

Jose added that just keeping up with rent and utilities is already a struggle, and if required to pay the premium, they \u201cwould have to go without Medi-Cal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor many, a hundred dollars might not seem like much,\u201d said Luz Gallegos, executive director of\u00a0TODEC<\/a>, in Spanish.<\/p>\n

She explained that for families living paycheck to paycheck, every penny counts \u2014 that $100 can provide a week\u2019s worth of groceries, a tank of gas or a crucial part of their rent.<\/p>\n

For farmworkers and other immigrant laborers performing tough jobs in extreme conditions for the lowest wages, this amount is not just a number; it can mean survival, continued Gallegos.<\/p>\n

\u201cEconomic and community well-being must go hand in hand,\u201d she said. \u201cWithout healthy men and women, we will not have a healthy economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mireya Suarez, a community organizer at\u00a0CHIRLA<\/a>\u00a0in San Bernardino, believes that the most effective approach to healthcare involves investing in prevention instead of waiting for conditions to worsen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will always be much cheaper for the state to prevent chronic diseases instead of providing care when the person already has a chronic disease, which will last for a long time,\u201d she said in Spanish.<\/p>\n

A single emergency room visit can cost the government thousands of dollars \u2014 far more than a routine check-up or preventive treatment.<\/p>\n

Gallegos has observed this dynamic at play, as TODEC has documented cases of patients who have gone to the ER only when their illnesses are already very advanced, or when about to die.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have serious cases of people whose diabetes wasn\u2019t detected in time, and they end up blind. Imagine that \u2014 men we know who have gone blind at 30, 33, another one at 40-something years old,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are young men who were working in the fields and started to feel sick, and there was no other option,\u201d Gallegos continued. \u201cThey were taken to the emergency room, and by then, their diabetes was already very advanced.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another health condition that Jose must manage is hyperuricemia, an excess of uric acid in the blood that causes severe swelling in his feet, knees, hands and fingers, often making it nearly impossible for him to stand or walk.<\/p>\n

Before the couple had Medi-Cal, flare-ups would leave him bedridden for weeks. Without any affordable treatment available, they had to rely on friends traveling to Mexico to bring back just enough medication to ease his symptoms for a few days \u2014 barely enough to get him back to work and provide for Daniela and their two young children.<\/p>\n

Now, with Medi-Cal, as soon as Jose begins to feel the early symptoms of a flare-up, he seeks immediate attention, preventing the swelling from immobilizing him and wreaking long-term damage to his joints.<\/p>\n

With looming statewide cuts, those benefits could be put in jeopardy.<\/p>\n

In Gallegos\u2019 opinion, it is not the time to restrict access, but rather to expand it.<\/p>\n

In her day-to-day work on the ground, she witnesses the harsh reality that many immigrant families, especially undocumented workers, are facing more than ever.<\/p>\n

They live in fear, she described, and without the mental health resources they desperately need, depression can take hold.<\/p>\n

With anti-immigrant rhetoric escalating at the federal level, meanwhile, the consequences have been devastating.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve recently documented several suicide cases, particularly among men,\u201d said Gallagos. \u201cImagine living with this situation and not having access to health care.\u201d<\/p>\n

For her, this is a critical moment for the state to stand firmly with the community and offer real, sustained support.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ByRoxsy Lin Jun 13, 2025 Amid...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=73498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73499,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73498\/revisions\/73499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=73498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=73498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=73498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}