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Fresno Considers Ending Health Services for the Undocumented
http://blogs.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2014/08/19/fresno-considers-ending-health-services-for-the-undocumented/Brandon Hauk’s job is about to get a lot harder. The health of about 7,000 patients he helps at Clinica Sierra Vista in Fresno is in the hands of the county board of supervisors – they are set to vote Tuesday whether or not to shut down a program that covers specialty care for the undocumented....
Fresno’s Medically Indigent Services Program was set up decades ago to provide health coverage for the poor, and later, the undocumented. But now that the Affordable Care Act has gone into effect, the county says it doesn’t need the program anymore. Now tens of thousands of uninsured Fresnans have health coverage through Obamacare. More than that, the county says it can’t afford to keep the program going....
Closing or restricting the program could leave 6,000 undocumented Fresnans without care. The Affordable Care Act does not cover the undocumented. And, after a recent court battle, the county no longer has a legal obligation to cover them.
Pomaville says it would cost the county up to $21 million to continue coverage for the undocumented, but the county is short about $10 million. He says his department has already trimmed everywhere else possible.
Fresno’s Medically Indigent Services Program was set up decades ago to provide health coverage for the poor, and later, the undocumented. But now that the Affordable Care Act has gone into effect, the county says it doesn’t need the program anymore. Now tens of thousands of uninsured Fresnans have health coverage through Obamacare. More than that, the county says it can’t afford to keep the program going....
Closing or restricting the program could leave 6,000 undocumented Fresnans without care. The Affordable Care Act does not cover the undocumented. And, after a recent court battle, the county no longer has a legal obligation to cover them.
Pomaville says it would cost the county up to $21 million to continue coverage for the undocumented, but the county is short about $10 million. He says his department has already trimmed everywhere else possible.
Make it stop, Taz!!