Health4AllKids Turns One, Immigrant Families Still Fearful

From Children Now: Today marks the one-year anniversary of the Health4AllKids expansion of Medi-Cal under Senate Bill 75, through which over 180,000 undocumented children now have full-scope Medi-Cal coverage providing them access to preventive, emergency, mental health, vision, and dental care. However, California families continue to face healthcare challenges as thousands of kids are still without health coverage and Congress threatens to undermine Medi-Cal.

A new Children Now issue brief, Health4AllKids Progress Update: New Community Survey Results, summarizes the results of a survey conducted in March 2017 to learn more about the barriers and challenges experienced by health providers and community-based groups in getting and keeping kids enrolled in health coverage. The brief finds that the most significant challenge to child enrollment in Health4AllKids is immigrant families’ fears of federal immigration enforcement threats.

“We are proud to celebrate the anniversary of Health4AllKids and the state’s commitment to children’s health,” Children Now President Ted Lempert said. “But the threats on the federal level are affecting immigrant families. They’re scared, which has led them to avoid interactions with public services, even health coverage. We must do more so that all kids and families are able to access the health care services they need without fear.”

Additional challenges to Health4AllKids enrollment included lack of culturally appropriate messaging in needed languages, lack of sufficient enrollment support, and transportation challenges, among others. The brief provides key recommendations for how to overcome these barriers.

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