California Commission Recommends Granting Immigrants Immediate Access to Health Care

An 89-page report from California's Little Hoover Commission, an independent, bipartisan government advisory panel, to Gov. Gray Davis (D) and the state Legislature suggests that lawmakers create a program that would grant both legal and undocumented immigrants immediate access to health care and other social services, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. In return for immediate access to such services, participants in the Golden State Residency Program would agree to learn English, get a job or participate in a job training program, pay taxes and take part in "some sort of civic activity." California has about two million undocumented immigrants. According to the report, California has "plenty of public programs. But eligibility rules (from one to the other) are not consistent or aligned to a specific set of goals." Eric Schockman, head of the commission, added that the proposed program would "eliminate inconsistent policies in federal and state law" (Hendrix, San Francisco Chronicle, 6/19). A provision in the 1996 federal welfare reform act precludes new immigrants from qualifying for Medicaid and other public assistance programs for their first five years in the country. However, states can "offer some or all Medicaid coverage to some or all new legal immigrants ... at their own expense" (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 8/29/01). Mark Silverman, director of immigration policy at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco, said, "What I like about (the proposal) is that it couples rights with responsibilities. ... [W]e're talking about recognizing and rewarding for contributions to our economy, not drains to the economy." But Ira Mehlman, a spokesperson for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, disagreed that undocumented immigrants should receive benefits, saying, "We believe that if you haven't obeyed the law, you should not be entitled to all the benefits as everybody else," Mehlman said. Russ Lopez, a spokesperson for the governor, said Davis has received the report but has not yet had time to review it (San Francisco Chronicle, 6/19). The commission's report is available online.