New America Media - Video

Samoan Dance Brings Healing to Violence-Prone SF Community

2013-05-18T08:50:00Z

Pelenise Faataui, a native of San Francisco’s Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood, recently began teaching Polynesian dance to friends and neighbors in the area. The daughter of one of the first Samoans to settle in the largely African American community, Faataui has seen her share of violence, having lost a 14-year-old brother and several relatives to gang-related shootings. Her dance, she says, brings a sense of community and culture to residents struggling to cope with the violence plaguing their neighborhood. For now classes are held in front of her house in the West Point housing projects, despite the very real danger of catching a stray bullet. Faataui says she has begun reaching out to local community centers in the hopes of finding a safer place to continue her work.

Jean Melesaine is a native of San Francisco and grew up in Hunters Point. She is a writer and videographer with Silicon Valley DeBug, a project of New America Media. Her work focuses on the issues and concerns of the Pacific Islander community.

Invisible Workforce: An Undocumented Immigrant Caregiver Shares Her Story

2013-05-17T08:10:00Z

Nannies, housecleaners, caregivers—they are sometimes called the world’s most invisible workforce. In the US alone, it’s estimated that more than 2 million people do this type of work. Most are women and many are immigrants. And pressure is growing to address their working conditions. As part of our Global Nation coverage, The World’s Monica Campbell has our first piece in a series about domestic workers. It looks at a home aide from Fiji, her elderly employer, and a short documentary called “The Caretaker” highlighting these intimate partnerships.

A few years ago, Florence Tratar fell down. In her 80s, it was enough of a spill to change her life drastically and leave her bound to a wheelchair. And with no family nearby, she needed someone to move in and care for her immediately.

But nobody she hired clicked, until she found Joesy Gerrish, a caregiver from Fiji.

“I liked her right away,” says Tratar. So once Gerrish’s references checked out, she was hired and moved in to help Tratar full time. It’s easy to see why Tratar picked Gerrish. In her early 40s, she is energetic, has a quick laugh, and says she treats her employers like family.

Now, Gerrish gets up early every morning, makes Tratar’s meals, drives her to appointments.

“I do everything!” Gerrish says.

“Everything!” Tratar agrees. “I mean, whatever I have to do, Joesy does.”

I met Tratar and Gerrish in Sebastopol, California, north of San Francisco. The two women had ventured out to see a short documentary about Gerrish. The film, by San Francisco-based director Theo Rigby, shows how immigrant caregivers increasingly fill a demand in the United States to attend to the disabled and elderly.

The documentary shows Gerrish cooking and shopping for a previous employer, an ailing Japanese woman. She feeds her, turns her over so she won’t get bed sores. It’s non-stop work.

After the film, Tratar realized how little she knew about Gerrish’s life: How she misses Fiji—and how she’s in the US without legal authorization.

“This is a shock to me because I just didn’t know,” Tratar says.

She’s against hiring people without papers, she says. But she also can’t say why she never asked Gerrish for documentation. Maybe because she didn’t want to know, she says, because Gerrish was a good fit.

Meanwhile, Gerrish says she doesn’t worry about stepping out of the shadows so publicly. She tells Tratar how she’s hoping immigration reform might grant her legal status.

“It’s getting there,” Gerrish tells Tratar. “It’s a long journey but we’ll get there.”

Gerrish also tells Tratar how, in her off time, she is working to improve labor conditions for other caregivers, nannies and housekeepers. In California, it’s estimated that some 200,000 people do this type of work, many without papers.

She talks about women from Mexico she knows, along with other immigrants from elsewhere, who live in the US illegally and worry about getting deported on their way to work. Also, Gerrish says, she hears about women worried about getting paid, since they are off the books. If there is a dispute with an employer, wages can be held back and undocumented workers can be aware that they still have the right to claim wages.

“Oh, there’s a lot of that, getting paid under the table. A lot!” Tratar exclaims.

“Yes,” Gerrish says, “but that’s the only kind of work that we can do. We would like to do other stuff. But we’re stuck with that.”

Gerrish says she has felt mistreated by other employers.

“Oh, you’re like a slave,” she says. “Do this. Do that. Do that. I say, ‘Wait a minute, I only have two hands.’ But they want you right there, right there, right there. Otherwise, I’ll kick you out. But you have to do it. Otherwise what else can you do? You need to survive.”

Gerrish is working with labor advocate Maureen Purtill, who organizes immigrant women at the Graton Day Labor Center nearby, in Sonoma. Purtill remembers Gerrish’s reaction when she told her that, among other demands like overtime and vacation, they’d push for workers to get uninterrupted sleep.

“She burst into laughter, in this uncomfortable laughter, like, ‘Oh, I would love that. That would be amazing. I’ve never had the right to sleep five hours in a row, or eight hours in a row,” says Purtill. “Caregiving requires sometimes, you know, care every two hours if you’re caring for elderly people.”

It’s the case with Gerrish, who wakes up with Florence Tratar at 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. every day.

“Oh my goodness gracious, you need domestic help,” says Tratar. “I don’t know what I would do without Joesy. I couldn’t survive.”

Tratar hopes that Gerrish will legalize her status in the US soon. She understands now that deportation is a constant worry for her caretaker.

“Everyday you live in fear, just looking behind your shoulder every day,” Gerrish says.

The question now is whether new legislation would let both women rest a little easier.]]> 47149832

UC President: Serving Minorities 'Key Question' Going Forward

2013-05-12T08:00:00Z

Traducción al español

Ed. Note: In August, University of California President Mark Yudof will step down after a five-year tenure that coincided with one of the worst economic downturns in recent memory and a historic demographic shift that continues to play out across the social and political landscape, as well as in higher education. Yudof spoke with New America Media editor Peter Schurmann about how the University of California has met these challenges and its plans for the road ahead.

New America Media: President Yudof, you took over as head of the UC system in 2008. What was the biggest challenge you faced at the time?

President Yudof: I think the major challenges hit almost immediately in 2008 or by the following year. I knew we were in an economic downturn but I didn’t know it was the greatest economic downturn since the 1930s. I figured our budgets were in trouble but I wasn’t anticipating cuts over the next few years of $800 plus million.

I would say admissions [policy] was another immediate challenge. My first few weeks in office, there was a faculty proposal to change the admissions system. I’m very avid for access, I’ve supported affirmative action and I’m very avid for diversity. But I also have a rule that I don’t sign anything that I don’t understand. It took me a while to understand the faculty’s proposal, and ultimately I endorsed it. It carried the Board of Regents and … led a few years later to a holistic admissions policy that said it’s not just numbers or your ranking in high school, but that you had to look at the whole student and if the person had overcome poverty or other challenging circumstances, or had particular talents.

NAM: You mention affirmative action. What’s your take on reports that show college diversity has in fact increased in its absence?

Yudof: I’ve been for affirmative action for a very long time, probably since the mid-to-late 70s. It’s something I’ve had a passion for. I’m very proud of the fact that we have a high degree of socioeconomic diversity. Over 40 percent of our students are Pell grant eligible. A place like Berkeley or UCLA or Davis has more Pell-eligible students than the whole Ivy League combined.

So I think we do a very good job of reaching out to low-income students. But it is not a substitute for one additional tool, which is affirmative action. If you actually look at the numbers, they’ve recovered some but African American enrollment is relatively flat - up just slightly from the time of Prop 209 [passed in 1997, prohibiting race-based admissions policies in California colleges and universities]. And while Hispanic enrollment is up, it really reflects the fact that Hispanics make up a greater share of the population of California. It’s not really a quantum leap in terms of our young Latinos and Latinas being able to gain access to the university. I think we could do a lot better if we had that additional tool.

NAM: Putting aside the question of affirmative action, what is the biggest obstacle to reaching young people who don’t see UC as a viable option?

Yudof: There are many obstacles. One is that mom and dad sit down with their kids at the kitchen table and decide they can’t afford it. So we created the Blue and Gold Program. Today, if you make under $80,000 a year [then] you don’t pay any tuition. That simple. You have to apply for your Pell grant and Cal grant, but if you don’t get everything you need, we guarantee that you will pay no tuition. And in fact we contribute toward the living costs and all that.

So one thing is you need financial aid. The second thing you need is clarity about financial aid. That’s very important. You can’t just say, “Trust me, come see us after you’re admitted.” A third thing is that high school graduation rates just aren’t what they should be. And college preparation just isn’t what it used to be. We can’t admit you and graduate you if you never got out of high school.

NAM: Now that you are leaving, what do you see as being the major challenges facing your successor?

Yudof: Well, there are a lot of challenges [and] money is big part of it. I mean, we should be taking 30,000 more students, but the state isn’t paying for the students we have. So money is a big problem. Expanding enrollment would help, but there’s no money to expand enrollment. That’s a major, major challenge here.

The second challenge is tuition. What we have is a highly differentiated system. And it’s highly redistributive. Roughly 30 percent of every dollar we take in from tuition we reinvest back in financial aid. So the nominal tuition is $12,000 but the real tuition is probably about $8500. It’s like the sticker price on an automobile: 62 percent of our students don’t pay the sticker price, [which is] income adjusted. But it’s still a problem, and particularly for the middle class because the higher your income, the less eligible you are for financial aid.

Another big challenge is that the [state] financial model is broken. The state isn’t likely to come up with a whole lot more money. Over the years we’ve lost about $800 million. We’re back about $150 million but we’re nowhere near the funding levels we had in 2007. I mean we’re way far away. We probably won’t approach those levels for another five or six years.

NAM: To what extent are the financial challenges facing the university a bigger question about public values?

Yudof: It does involve public values. And sometimes it’s public neglect. To some extent, the shifting values represent the shifting demographics. America as a whole is aging. People ask where their retirement income will come from, or how they will pay for their drug costs. It’s not to say they hate higher education, but there is a lot of competition for resources.

I [also] think there’s a loss of the sense of a common purpose, or the common wealth in this country. We build more toll roads today than ever because state governments find it so difficult to come up with the money to build freeways. We have more gated communities. We have more private than public police officers. There aren’t enough judges, and there’s not enough money to support the legal system. I see higher education like that. Too often it’s treated as a private good rather than a public good that has an impact on all of us.

NAM: The UC schools have long been the leader in higher education in California. How can they better serve the new majority of minority students in the state?

Yudof: That’s a key thing. We have higher graduation rates than just about any public university in the country. If you look at Nobel laureates, we have 60 of them, more than whole countries. We have very good graduation rates, including among minority students. So it’s a good place.

But that is the key question for the next 25 years. How can we be sure that we are serving California? And to serve California, it means you have to serve Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, whites and other groups. I think it’s an open question and I think we’re not where we need to be.

I think we need to be bigger than we are, with more students and more undergraduates. We also need to continue to be an open door for community college transfer students. Applications from community colleges are down because community colleges are being starved. They have 400,000 fewer students.

I think we need to do more on the e-learning side. I think we need an e-learning access to the university. We should have a curriculum online with specified for-credit courses that are open to potential transfer students. This would be an additional level that would allow for greater access.

NAM: How is the growing emphasis on technology impacting the curriculum? How useful, for example, are humanities?

Yudof: I’m worried about the humanities. Most of what I took in college was the humanities. If someone told me it was relevant, I didn’t take it. I took Greek thought and I took astronomy and I took philosophy and psychology. I was very good at abnormal psychology; it just came natural to me.

All these national efforts … that say if it doesn’t help in the physical sense or if it doesn’t put food on the table then it isn’t worth while, I don’t believe that for a moment. The corporations can do wonders teaching engineering or business principles, but I haven’t come across one yet that teaches Wallace Stevens or T.S. Elliot. I’m deeply worried that in this quest where the only education that matters is one that produces a very specific job outcome or product that humanities is going to get squeezed out. But students still pick the humanities and social sciences in very significant numbers. They’re carrying the banner.

NAM: The biggest issue for students who come to a UC school or any other university is employment. Where do you see the connection between higher education and jobs?

Yudof: I think we’re here to educate. I mean, we’re also here to help with the jobs but primarily to educate. And to me, the most important skills in a university setting are cognitive skills. Can you solve a problem? Can you synthesize ideas? Can you express yourself? I don’t believe you’re a good engineer if you just memorize the principles. You have to be able to apply them, and manipulate the concepts. My view of life is, no matter what you are - a neurosurgeon, or a postal employee - a person who can solve problems, and hold ideas in his or her head is extremely valuable. Our obligation, then, is to educate the students … [to ensure] that they learn to learn, that they’re creative, reflective. If we’re not doing that then we’re not educating.]]> 65979028

Oct. 1 D-Day for Health Care Insurance Enrollment

2013-05-06T16:15:00Z

中文翻譯
 한국어 번역

NEW YORK -- October 1 is D-day for New Yorkers to start shopping for affordable health care coverage on the New York Health Benefits Exchange. Some 2.9 million residents are uninsured (out of a population of 19.2 million), and experts and advocates are ramping up to make New York the benchmark state for maximizing health care access for the uninsured, the underinsured, children and even undocumented immigrants.

"We are doing something that very few other states are doing," Elisabeth Benjamin, vice president of health initiatives at the Community Service Society of New York, told a group of reporters--most from ethnic news organizations--at a roundtable briefing convened by New America Media. "Our exchange truly will be one-stop shopping allowing apples-to-apples comparisons of the variety of health insurance plans available."

Unlike other states whose exchanges may refer certain applicants to other agencies, New York's exchange will offer consumers the full menu of available options, from qualified commercial health plans to public assistance programs like CHP (Child Health Plus) and Medicaid. "You go into the New York Exchange and it's extraordinary," Benjamim added. "You will come out with coverage, maybe even emergency Medicaid if you're undocumented."

New York is one of 19 states that opted to build and design its own exchange instead of relying on the federal government to do so. Because the ACA requires everyone to purchase health insurance, states that are more effective in bringing larger numbers of its residents into coverage will presumably be able to drive down insurance premium costs.

In New York, one study estimates the premium costs for an individual and families could be reduced by as much 66 percent per month. That’s a significant decrease in state where individuals and families pay $1,200 and $3,400 a month respectively, (the latter for a family of four). Individuals and families who do not qualify for Medicaid because their incomes are too high may still be eligible for subsidies to assist them in purchasing health care insurance.

Although enrollment through the exchange does not begin until October 1, the ACA has already yielded tangible benefits. It has allowed some 160,000 young adults, for example, to stay on their parents’ health insurance plans until age 26 -- and New York has extended that age to 29. This is helping to reverse a decade long national trend for the 19 to 25 age group, according to data compiled by the Commonwealth Fund: the percentage of young adults who were uninsured fell from 48 percent to 41 percent between 2010 and 2012.

New York is also ahead of the curve in committing funds -- some $27 million annually -- for ACA's Navigator program which provides one-on-one counseling and referrals to consumers. By contrast, Ohio, with a much smaller population but a high rate of uninsured, is committing only $2.3 million on a one-time basis.

Sarah Rothstein, assistant director of policy and planning for the New York State Health Benefit Exchange, described how the Navigator program will bridge the state's language access issues through a multi-layered approach. People who don't want to enroll over the phone or through the website will be able to get in-person assistance from community based organizations that have been certified as navigators. Though the website for the exchange currently carries instructions in English and Spanish, other languages will be added. Call centers will also commence in October with staff versed in multiple languages including Arabic, Russian, Cantonese, Mandarin, Creole, French, Hindi, Korean, Polish, Punjabi, Urdu and Bengali.

Lorraine Gonzalez-Camastra, director of health policy for the Children's Defense Fund in New York, emphasized the state's goal of providing universal coverage for children -- "regardless of income or immigration status." Some 283,746 children in New York are uninsured, of whom 51 percent are minorities, including many noncitizens of immigrant families.

Latinos make up 23 percent -- the largest cohort -- of the state's uninsured population overall, noted Becca Telzak, Health Policy Supervisor for Make the Road New York, a grassroots organization. "Imagine not being able to speak the language of the person who's talking to you," she said. "It makes it a thousand times harder" to negotiate some of the complexities of selecting the appropriate insurance plan.

Meanwhile Asian Americans are growing rapidly in the state, especially in counties that have otherwise seen declines in the white population. The influx reflects both growing numbers of refugees from Bhutan and Myanmar, and rising birth rates among more established Asian American groups, noted Noilyn Abesamis-Mendoza, health policy director for the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families.

Government agencies and advocacy organizations expect to bring one million New Yorkers under the healthcare insurance umbrella. The open enrollment period begins October 1 and will extend through March 31, 2014 for the first year of implementation. Medicaid eligible persons will be able to enroll at any time throughout the year, as will those with children who qualify for New York’s CHP program. Forty-six percent of those who get public coverage will be non-Hispanic whites, while 28 percent will be Hispanic; 13 percent will be black; and 13 percent will be Asian Americans and others.

The New York Health Benefit Exchange will also run the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) which is expected to attract many from immigrant communities who own their own business. SHOP will enable employers to compare the qualified health plans on the exchange and even leverage their purchasing power by partnering with other businesses.

SHOP will be made available to businesses that have 50 employees or less during the first two years of enrollment, 2014 and 2015. Businesses with 100 employees or less will be able to use SHOP in 2016.

From its website to in-person counseling, CDF’s Gonzalez-Camastra said the state has taken great care to ensure that “there is no wrong door” for New Yorkers to obtain accurate guidance.

This story was written as part of a series of press briefings on healthcare reform with ethnic media organized by New America Media and funded by the Atlantic Philanthropies.

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Bridge Program a Lifeline For 'Medically Uninsurable'

2013-04-04T08:00:00Z

SAN FRANCISCO -- After undergoing emergency brain surgery in November 2010 to drain fluid that doctors believed was being caused by a tumor, Erica Chain cut short her stay in Asia where she had been doing volunteer work and returned to California where she hoped to continue her medical care.

Sorry, she was told by every health insurance company she contacted, you are “medically uninsurable” because of your pre-existing condition.

“Being 27, diagnosed with a life-threatening brain tumor and denied coverage was the lowest I ever felt,” Chain, now 29, recalled.

But before long, Chain found out through a friend about a federally funded program administered by California, which grew out of the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA). The program allows people like her with pre-existing health conditions to secure affordable health coverage in the insurance market place.

Called the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP), it guarantees access to insurance for United States citizens who have a pre-existing health condition and have been uninsured for at least six months. To prevent people with private health insurance from switching to the less costly PCIP, the health reform law put in the six-month requirement provision. Applicants need only show a letter from a doctor stating they have had a medical condition in the past year.

For Chain, enrolling in PCIP couldn’t have come sooner. Within days after she did, she fell into a coma and was admitted to neuro-ICU at UCSF. There, doctors performed brain surgery to remove a rare aneurysm that had burst in her midbrain, which was previously thought to be an in-active and inoperable tumor.

The young woman remained in what doctors called a “living coma” for the next two months. She was awake, but wasn’t aware of anything going on.

“I thought I was living a bad dream,” she said.

PCIP in California

Meant to be nothing more than a “bridge” program, PCIP will fold into the ACA when the federal healthcare reform is fully implemented Jan. 1, 2014, when insurers will no longer be able to deny individuals with pre-existing conditions coverage, or charge them higher rates because of those conditions.

Since the PCIP program began in September 2010, California has consistently led the nation in the number of enrollees. As of Dec. 31, 2012, the state had an estimated 15,100 people, with Los Angeles County boasting the highest enrollment.

At 56.9 percent, white enrollees far outnumber other ethnic groups, with Asian and Pacific Islanders (API) coming in a distant second. Chain, who is of Chinese descent, is among the 9.3 percent of API enrollees.

Health care advocates have lauded the PCIP program for providing access to health care to thousands at an affordable cost. Chain said her monthly payments are about $200.

PCIP suspended

Health care advocates worry about the recent federal directive from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), that California, as well as all other states nationwide, suspend new enrollment in its PCIP program, beginning March 2. CMS, which funds PCIP, defends the move as necessary in order to ensure that there are sufficient funds available for the rest of the year to cover those already enrolled.

The Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board (MRMIB), an arm of the state’s Health and Human Services Agency, which operates California’s PCIP program, said that while it would comply with the directive, it will still enroll anyone who is enrolled in another state but moves to California.

And it will continue to screen applications submitted after March 2 to see if the individual qualifies for the state’s own high-risk pool -- the Major Risk Medical Insurance Program (MRMIP), which health advocates say is not as attractive as PCIP.

“(MRMIP’s monthly premiums) are a lot more expensive and it offers less benefits than PCIP,” pointed out Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access, a statewide consumer health advocacy group.

“What is more egregious is that it has a $75,000 annual cap on coverage,” he added. PCIP had none.
Wright observed that if “we had a different Congress,” one more supportive of the ACA, California and other states could have asked for more money to continue enrollment in PCIP.

Chain estimates that her medical bills would have set her and her family back by about $1.3 million, forcing them into bankruptcy. That amount includes her long rehab, where she had to relearn how to walk, talk and eat on her own.

“I came out of the coma with no short-term memory and double vision,” she said.

Thanks to PCIP, she said, she has made a hundred percent recovery, which she calls nothing short of a “miracle.”

She lamented that some people who learned of her enrollment in the program from her blogs think she got a “free ride” at the taxpayers’ cost. That, she asserted, is a misconception.

“It’s just like paying for any other normal health insurance,” she said, adding: “Without it, my case would have fallen into a county hospital or charity care,” and that would have cost the taxpayers a lot of money.

Chain’s work in health care snagged her an invitation to the White House during Obama’s second inaugural. Seven other U.S. citizens who had contributed to education, energy and other areas on the President’s agenda got to meet him in the Oval Office.

As Chain received a presidential hug, she thanked Obama for saving her life.
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In Sacramento, Hope and Zumba for the Uninsured

2013-03-29T08:05:00Z

SACRAMENTO -- Trina Meza lost her job almost a year ago, in April of last year. Her story is like that of so many others – along with her income, she abruptly lost her medical and dental coverage, as well as coverage for her son, Simon, who is 11.

Meza had applied for Medi-Cal for Simon, but the application status had been listed as “pending” for weeks, and when she called to ask about it, she couldn’t get any answers about the delay.

“I thought, ‘I need to talk to someone,’” she said.

Meza was one of thousands who lined up for the WeConnect Community Resource Fair and Highway to Health Festival at Hiram Johnson High School here on March 16. Sponsored by The California Endowment (TCE), a private health foundation that provides grants to community-based organizations in the state, the fair and others like it are meant to increase enrollment in health care programs under the Affordable Care Act.

At these events, uninsured Californians can be screened for eligibility for a variety of public health programs, and volunteers are available to help them enroll. The fairs also offer free tax preparation for lower-income individuals, as well as health and dental screenings with resources for finding low-cost providers. The day is punctuated with free entertainment, like a Zumba class and a performance by the Sacramento Kings Dancers.

Meza and her son live in Sacramento, and she learned about the event at the Teichert Branch of the Boys and Girls Club.

Meza, who formerly worked in records management, has been constantly applying for jobs since last April. With help from CalWORKs, California’s welfare-to-work program, she has been able to start going to school to become a pharmacy technician, but until Saturday her son still lacked medical coverage.

Volunteers at the fair screened her for eligibility and were ultimately able to enroll Simon in Medi-Cal.

“They filled out all the paperwork and got him signed up,” she said.

Thousands of low-income people filed through the high school gym throughout the day, demonstrating the widespread lack of medical coverage and the need for help finding the necessary information to access public health programs.

“People like me who used to be self-sustaining, it feels like we’re taking steps backward these days,” Meza says. “I’ve become very good at finding resources like this.”

TCE will be holding three more such events in the state over the next few months – in San Diego, Kern County and Oakland.

New America Media's ongoing coverage of the Affordable Care Act is supported by a grant from The California Endowment.

Maya Bring Baseball Passions to U.S.

2013-03-28T11:00:00Z

Una traducción de este artículo está disponible aquí. Audio entrevistas en español aparecen abajo.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was reported in collaboration with PRI's The World. To listen to an accompanying radio segment produced by The World's immigration editor Monica Campbell, click here.

SAN FRANCISCO -- As a new major league baseball season begins this week, another group of players is taking their love of "America's favorite pastime" to fields across the U.S.: indigenous Yucatec Maya immigrants.

In Mexico, the Mayas are a people apart. Half a millennium since Spanish conquistadors set foot in Mesoamerica, their numbers stand in the millions and they remain racially, linguistically and culturally distinct from their non-indigenous countrymen. While most Mexicans are bursting with national pride, Mayas are Yucatecos first (the greatest concentration of Maya are in the Mexican state of Yucatán) and Mexicans second. Most Mexicans speak only Spanish, while most Mayas can speak both Spanish and Maya. And while soccer is practically akin to religion across much of Mexico, for Yucatec Mayas, baseball is life.

Baseball is so popular among Yucatec Mayas (almost all Mayas in Yucatán are either players or fans) and their love of the sport so unique in their country, that it has become a self-identifier, a point of pride and an integral part of what it means to be Maya -- right up there with poc-chuc (traditional grilled pork), jarana yucateca (traditional dance) and colorful huipiles (traditional clothing).

"Baseball is an important element of Mayan culture," says Alberto Perez, director of Asociación MAYAB, a Bay Area Yucatec Maya organization. It’s a culture that is becoming increasingly visible in the United States, where hundreds of thousands of Mayas now live. Baseball, says Perez, provides a way for Maya immigrants in the U.S. to stay connected with community, display cultural pride and establish their unique place within the Latino Diaspora. “It is almost like an underground movement.” Today, a growing but untold number of Yucateco baseball teams are scattered across the state of California - there are even whole leagues here whose rosters are mostly made up of Yucatecos.

San Francisco-based Club Yucatan’s bench. At the game, players on the same team wear the various uniforms of their other teams in both Mexico and the United States. / Photo: Jonah Harris

The sport came to Yucatan from baseball-mad Cuba, a mere 128 miles away. "Mérida (the capital of Yucatán) had more cultural and political exchange with Cuba than with Mexico City," explains Perez. “That's how we got this special love of baseball." Today, Yucatec Mayas, or Yucatecos, may love baseball even more than the Cubans who introduced them to the sport. "They say a Sunday in Oxkutzcab without baseball is not a Sunday," says Alberto Gómez, a 42-year old Yucateco who once played there professionally. Oxkutzcab is a municipality in Yucatan.

In Mexico, Yucateco baseball teams often serve as ambassadors of their pueblito, or small town. A rural indigenous village with more speakers of Maya than Spanish isn’t likely to have a tourism board like many other Mexican cities do, but there’s a good chance it will have a baseball team to act as the community’s unofficial booster.

Ball fields in Yucatán are like town squares - community social gatherings often revolve around the game. "Many people in Yucatán go every Sunday to the field to be with friends and share the experience," says Gómez. Grabbing the entire family, getting some grilled meat and beer, and heading off to the local ball field is a typical weekend day. “It’s just like an American picnic,” he says.

Miguel Nic knocks in the winning run for the baseball team of the small town of Mani, Yucatán / Photo: Oxkutzcab.com

There are big teams -- the Yucatán Leones play in the highest rung of Mexican professional baseball and have a 13,600-seat stadium - but those are the exception. Attending a Yucateco baseball game is usually an intimate affair, says Gaspar Chi, a Yucateco immigrant to the Bay Area who founded a baseball team here. Many fans who attend games in Yucatán are family members and neighbors that have lived together for generations.

As a result, team loyalties run deep. When teams from the municipalities of Cenotillo and Homún play each other, locals support their players and follow the action as avidly as an American football fan would the NFL. Yucatecos still discuss a remarkable game played in Mérida in 1960, when a team from the tiny municipality of Kopté and a team from the 1,900-person village of Suma de Hidalgo took a tie ballgame into the 18th inning. With only one out needed for a win in the bottom of the 18th, Kopté’s pitcher threw an errant pickoff throw, allowing two runners to score and giving Hidalgo the win, "in a blink of an eye.”

Yet while other baseball playing countries in the region - most notably the Dominican Republic, current champions of the World Baseball Classic -- churn out Major League Baseball stars like cars from an assembly line, and young boys dream of becoming rich playing in the U.S., Yucatecos are less inclined to view the sport as a way to escape poverty.

Although some players earn as much as $3,000 per week playing in Mexican professional leagues, most who first play ball as children in Oxkutzcab's palm-lined sandlots do so solely because they love the sport. It’s a love that is passed down; every generation endows the next with their skills and techniques.

“It is very beautiful to me,” says Rafael ‘Carmito’ Tep, who has served as the official scorer for a local San Francisco-based team for 15 years. "Even if you are down by five runs late, you can still come back and go ahead." For many Maya immigrants in the U.S., baseball also offers relief from the stress of a long workday. Freddy Cetina, a Bay Aea Yucatec baseball player, says he plays ball to "relax and have fun, to be together with my teammates, my people."

Nevertheless, Yucatec baseball is notoriously rough and physical. Barreling into the second baseman to break up a double play? Knocking down a runner trying to touch home? It is just another Sunday on a Yucatec baseball diamond. "Yucatec baseball is very aggressive. Both verbally and physically," says Chi. "They need to be disciplined. They need to be able to attack the ball."

One San Francisco-based league fields six Maya teams and describes itself as being “led by members of the community that feel a strong affinity and commitment for the favorite sport of the contemporary Mayas of Yucatán: baseball.”

Chi has for 12 years been the Manager of Club Yucatán, which plays in another, primarily non-Maya, competitive league where wooden bats are used and pitches reach 70 miles per hour. The team is an ensemble cast, some as young as 20, others much older, but they are all joined by a profound love of bax'abola (bash-ah-bohl-ah), as baseball is called in Maya.

They can use their shared culture to their advantage on the field: calling pitches and other moves in Maaya t'aan, their native-tongue. “Sometimes we will say, ‘run’ or ‘steal the base!’ in Maya, instead of using signals so the other team doesn't hear." says Gómez. "White people who play us, they have no idea what is going on.”

Chi is proud of being a mentor, and sees baseball as a way to unite the local Yucatec community and pass on valuable skills to its members. He makes an effort to speak to his young players in Maya, for example, "to teach them to value themselves as Mayas.”

Chi plays the role of any baseball manager, preaching unity and praising his team with familiar sports clichés. At a recent Sunday-morning game in San Francisco against another Yucateco team, Club Yucatán scored 11 runs but still finished in a tie after their pitcher faltered. The bench and their supporters cheered anyway, thrilled with the result because the club’s hitting had previously been of concern.

As a player's wife brought in a steaming tub of tamales for the team, she balanced the heavy container atop her head, as Mayan woman have done since time immemorial -- a touch of Maya identity hidden among the American surroundings.

Similarly, Yucatec baseball teams are beacons of the uniqueness and worth that Maya immigrants bring to the nation, for those that care to look. "Sometimes people value us less because we are Yucatecos." Says Alberto Gómez, "What we are trying to do when we play baseball is to show them that it doesn't matter where your are from, as long as you have fight in you, if you know how to give 100 percent, like Yucatecos do."

Listen to Spanish-language audio interviews with Yucatec Maya ball players in the San Francisco Bay Area, below. To read the transcripts in english, click on the accompanying text link.

Interview with Club Yucatán Manager Gaspar Chi by Jonah Harris NAM

Interview with former professional baseball player Alberto Gómez by Jonah Harris NAM

Interview with Scorer Rafael "Carmito" Tep by Jonah Harris NAM

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Maryland Takes Lead on Health Care Reform

2013-03-24T17:31:00Z

Traducción al Español

한국어 번역

中文翻譯

BALTIMORE -- As one of America's top 10 wealthiest states and one that trends heavily Democratic, Maryland was among the nation's first to move full throttle to implement the Affordable Care Act.

The decision puts the state well out ahead in expanding access to some 300,000 people who will qualify for free or subsidized health insurance as of 2014, according to Suzanne Schlattman, Deputy Director for Development and Community Outreach, Maryland Citizens' Health Initiative Education Fund, Inc.

“Because we acted so early, we didn't get weighed down in the political rhetoric that other states got weighed down in,” she said.

At a newsmaker briefing for ethnic media representatives, Schlattman joined Danielle Davis, Director of Communications, Outreach and Training, Maryland Citizens’ Health Benefit Exchange (MHBE), and Leigh Cobb, Health Policy Director, Advocates for Children and Youth, to describe the benefits the law will bring.

First and foremost are those low-income residents who earn up to $15,400 per year (roughly 133% of the federal poverty line) -- or a family of four who earn up to $32,000 per year -- and will qualify under Medicaid's expanded eligibility criteria. The covered population includes low-income adults without children, who had previously been excluded by Medicaid's guidelines.

Another key group of consumers will be eligible to receive federal subsidies to assist in their purchase of health insurance if they have none or if they receive no assistance through their employer.

Altogether, says Schlattman, through the ACA the state will nearly halve its 600,000 to 700,000 who are uninsured in Maryland's overall population of 5.9 million.

Thanks to a consumer's bill of rights included in the law, Schlattman says, many residents of the state already have new benefits they haven't had until the ACA was enacted. Part of the state’s challenge is getting residents to know what those benefits are and how to access them.

So, for example, any new insurance plan issued after ACA was passed on March 23, 2010 cannot deny children benefits because of pre existing health conditions -- a benefit that will also apply to adults as of Jan.1 , 2014. Nor can insurers rescind a policy if someone becomes ill.

Consumers also cannot be charged a co-pay by insurers for preventive health care services like vaccinations or cancer screenings. The full menu of what qualifies as a preventive service is determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Task Force.

ACA also put into place an insurance rebate policy called the 80-20 rule. "If insurers spend less than 80 percent of what you pay them in your monthly premiums on your actual health care, they owe you the difference in a rebate," Schlattman explained. Since August, 2012, some Maryland health policy holders have been receiving an average of $200 to $300 in rebates from their insurance companies.

And perhaps best known of the benefits -- young adults can stay on their parents' insurance plans until age 26, a year longer than what current Maryland law allows. Now under the ACA, federal employees and the self-insured also will be able to cover their children up to age 26.

Leigh Cobb of Advocates for Children and Youth, pointed out that the law also extends Medicaid coverage to former foster youth up to age 26 with no income restrictions. Thus, beginning in 2014, youth who were enrolled in Medicaid when they aged out of the foster care system will be eligible for health coverage through Medicaid, giving them some parity with those young adults who are currently able to remain on their parents’ plans until age 26.

The ACA provision stipulates that former foster youth who aged out of the system as long ago as 2007 will be eligible for these benefits starting in January—as long as they are still under age 26. Cobb expressed concern, however, that those former foster care youth who have already “aged-out” of foster care may not be aware that he or she can qualify for Medicaid coverage up until age 26. “We really need to reach out to those young adults who don't know about this program,” Cobb said.

Cobb said another challenge for Maryland is expanding access to oral health care. “Marylanders were initially very excited that pediatric dental care was identified as an ‘essential health benefit’ under the ACA, however, under federal regulations issued by HHS, benefits will not be offered in all qualified health plans, will be priced separately when they are offered, and families will not be required to purchase them”, she said. Since the death of a Prince George's County 12 year-old six years ago because of an untreated tooth infection, Maryland has become much more focused on the importance of oral health care and has come a long way in making pediatric dental care available through through state programs.

Davis of MHBE, said by ramping up quickly, Maryland qualified for over $157 million in a combination of federal grants that helped fund strategic planning, IT assessment, policy research and recommendations on how to organize and implement an ACA-friendly infrastructure -- and a robust engagement of advisory councils representing the state's business, social, faith-based and health advocacy constituencies.

Maryland Health Benefit Exchange will be open for enrollment as of Oct. 1 -- not as an insurance carrier, but as the equivalent of a shopping mall where consumers can shop for and compare the best rates available.

Although people can still purchase insurance through private exchanges, those eligible to receive federal subsidies in purchasing health insurance will have to go through the Exchange. That also applies to small businesses. Schlattman estimates some 66,000 small businesses which employ 50 or fewer employees earning up to 50,000 a year are likely to qualify for a 35 percent tax credit for their insurance plans. That credit will rise to 50 percent in 2014.

Asked by reporters how Maryland's undocumented immigrants fit into the ACA, panelists said that population would have to continue to rely on fee-based services at federally funded health clinics or emergency rooms. But Maryland, the panelists emphasized, is aggressively devising outreach programs to insure legal immigrant residents can take full advantage of the ACA.

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Health Fair Attracts Inland Empire's Uninsured

2013-03-09T09:00:00Z

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following video shares the experiences of attendees at the WeConnect health and resource fair held in Riverside, California on March 2, 2013. The fair was an opportunity for area residents to access critical services and learn about new benefits available under the Affordable Care Act. Interviews feature a young woman who just found out she qualified for health care, a resident who can now get medical services for his diabetes and dental needs, and a father who previously had to go to Tijuana for medical services. Also interviewed are the nursing students who assisted people at the event. The video was produced by Silicon Valley De-Bug, a community media organization based in San Jose. The accompanying article was reported by Coachella Unincorporated, a youth-led media project based in the Eastern Coachella Valley in Riverside County. Both media outlets are projects of New America Media, a grantee of The California Endowment.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Anna Calderon and her daughter live with the fear that their family's history of diabetes and high blood pressure will soon catch up with them. Myra, 16, already has high cholesterol, but the family's lack of insurance has prevented her from seeking treatment.

The mother and daughter were among the hundreds of uninsured Inland Empire residents who attended a health and resource fair at Rubidoux High School in this city on March 2. The event, dubbed the WEConnect Health Care Enrollment and Resource Fair, is financed by The California Endowment (TCE), a private health foundation.

Calderon, 35,was able to sign up for low-income healthcare at the fair, and was directed to a local clinic that can treat her daughter and give them both access to affordable prescription medications.

WeConnect was established in 2005 by former California first lady Maria Shriver to reach uninsured Californians who are eligible for public health programs such as Medi-Cal. The healthy-living campaign provides families and individuals from underserved communities with access to the resources needed to lead healthier and financially secure lives.

Miriam Lopez, 30, attended the WeConnect fair to have her family’s vision and dental health checked.

“It is very good that they provide services for the community, so that all families can benefit,” said Lopez, an uninsured mother of two.

One service kiosk at the event, called the “WEb Connector” station, provided free health insurance eligibility screenings for attendees.

Volunteers in bright green “Health Happens Here” t-shirts, mainly students from University of California at Riverside and local high school students, assisted attendees throughout the daylong event. They helped with applications for a variety of public programs such as Medi-Cal, Healthy Families, CalFresh and the Women, Infants and Children's program (WIC).

West Coast University also joined in the efforts, pitching in at the health screening stations with approximately 70 senior-level nursing students. Dayanna Macias Carlos, program associate for The California Endowment, said that WEConnect health resource fairs have now been integrated into the West Coast University nursing curriculum.

“This is where we need to be,” said Gloria Huerta, dean of nursing at West Coast University. “There hasn’t been the opportunity on a community level or even the foresight before to say, ‘What can we do for all of us, what can we share?’ The time for being in a silo is over.”

“This is an integral part in the whole overhaul of the health care system, because too many times nurses… focus on treating [patients] for a disease. We need to go beyond that… we need to treat them before they get the disease,” said Huerta. “When these families walk out the door, they have resources in their hands. They are leaving here armed with information, and that is powerful.”

Free tax preparation was an added incentive for those who earned $51,000 or less in 2012.

“Pretty positive, we actually made out a little better than if I would have done the taxes myself so I’m glad I came,” said Rogelio Macedo, 41, who attended with his family of six. His wife and four sons stood alongside, arms brimming with pamphlets and goodie bags filled with prevention information as they made their way to the health care enrollment station.

The crowds drawn by the WEConnect Health Care Enrollment and Resource Fairs – typically in the thousands -- demonstrate the widespread lack of health care throughout the state. Four other similar events over the next two months will also aim to increase enrollment in the health care programs rolled out under the 2010 landmark Affordable Care Act (ACA). TCE’s Health Happens Here campaign will continue to enroll thousands of Californians until the ACA is fully implemented on January 1, 2014.

In Silicon Valley, Tent Cities Point to Growing Inequality

2013-03-08T09:00:00Z

In San Jose, the heart of Silicon Valley, economic inequality can be seen from the sky. Dozens of tents and flimsy structures dot a grassy open field near the San Jose airport, which is home to more than 100 homeless people. There are an estimated 60 encampments throughout Santa Clara County, according to news reports. City officials have announced a "clean up" of the San Jose camp on Friday, March 8, where they will push people out and confiscate their possessions. Silicon Valley De-Bug, a community and youth media organization based in San Jose, interviewed the camp's residents about how they got there and where they are headed.

Advocates: Medicaid Expansion in Miss. Saves Lives, Spurs Jobs

2013-03-06T09:30:00Z

en espanol

JACKSON, Miss. — The day her doctor told her that she had acute renal failure and had to start dialysis, Mary Davis was more concerned about the cost of the procedure than about her health.

“I thought, ‘how can I afford it?’ I had no idea,” Davis, 54, recalls. “I was already worried about paying my monthly utility bills.”

As it turned out, her three-days-a week dialysis cost about $20,000 for the first three months. Davis, who had quit her $10-an-hour job as an office-cleaner in downtown Jackson as her health worsened, had no insurance. Fortunately, as a single parent of two daughters, she was eligible for Mississippi’s Medicaid program for low-income adults. Two years later, she says she wouldn't have made it without Medicaid.

Mississippi has some 500,000 uninsured individuals. Nearly three-fourths of them belong to families with at least one member working full- or part-time. About 46.7 percent of African Americans in the state are uninsured, compared to 28.1 percent of whites. Over 43 percent of Mississippi's 42,000 Hispanics are uninsured, according to the National Council of La Raza, a figure that reflects the state's high number of undocumented Hispanics.

If the state agrees to expand Medicaid to those Mississippians at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty line under the Affordable Care Act, about 300,000 adults and 50,000 children would be eligible for health care insurance under Medicaid, according to a 2012 study by the University Research Center of Mississippi’s Institution of Higher Learning (IHL).

But full implementation of ACA in Mississippi has been facing an uphill battle in the state’s legislature. While Democrats push for the expansion, saying that it would benefit hundreds of thousands of low-income individuals, Republican leaders, including Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, remain skeptical, arguing that the expansion could dramatically increase the state’s spending on Medicaid to cover additional enrollment of currently eligible parents and children.

But, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Mississippi will spend $152 million – just 7.6 percent -- more on Medicaid to cover additional enrollment of eligible children and parents through 2022.

But, assuming there will be a high participation rate under the Medicaid expansion, the IHL study found that the federal dollars that will flow into Mississippi would range from an estimated annual amount of $426 million in 2014 to $1.2 billion in 2025. The study found the Medicaid expansion would also add thousands of jobs –4,178 jobs next year and 8,860 jobs in 2025.

“Right now, we’re in a political battle between the Red and Blue,” said Kim Robinson, program manager of National Policy Initiatives for Children’s Defense Fund, at a briefing here with ethnic media, organized by New America Media.

The reality is that it would hurt Mississippi’s economy if the state would not opt for expansion, Robinson added. With more and more uninsured patients showing up in the emergency rooms, “hospitals here would eventually shut down...and we will see a lot of job layoffs and budget decreases,” she said. “With Medicaid expansion,” on the other hand, “the state will receive the full benefits of ACA from the federal government.”

Starting in 2014, for the first three years, the federal government will pay 100 percent for the associated costs for those who are newly eligible for Medicaid. After that, the percentage that the federal government covers will gradually decline. By 2020, the state will shoulder only 10 percent and the federal will continue to pay 90 percent of the costs.

“My main concern is getting the public informed,” Linda Rigsby, health law attorney for the Mississippi Center for Justice, said during the briefing, “and that they should get the right information and dispel the myths.”

One myth is that the federal government may not be able to deliver the funding and the state would suffer all the more with additional enrollees in the Medicaid program.

“That fear of [the] federal government—we can’t operate that way in the 21st century,” said Rims Barber, director of Mississippi Human Services Coalition. “We have to change the mindset and mandate the healthcare expansion.”

Another myth, according to Rip Daniels, host of a local radio talk show targeting African Americans, is that “there are many people who go for free stuff. The reality is, even myself who has a job and insurance, it is not enough to cover larger medical costs."

Daniels challenged the elected people of color in the legislature “who speak with silence” to openly support the Medicaid expansion because they know that it would help the state and its residents.

As for Mary Davis, she has no doubts that there are thousands of people—it could be a brother, a sister, or a friend— who face medical problems like her, who are going to benefit from Medicaid expansion.

“Whatever people say, it is a life-saver,” she said.

This story was written as part of a series of press briefings on healthcare reform with ethnic media organized by New America Media and funded by the Atlantic Philanthropies.

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Experts Say Texas Needs Healthcare Reform

2013-03-06T09:00:00Z

en espanol

HOUSTON -- Many of the state’s elected officials – including Gov. Rick Perry and a number of state legislators – refuse to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), despite Texas having the largest proportion of uninsured citizens in the nation.

According to experts who spoke during an ethnic media roundtable discussion in Houston, fully implementing the ACA is the right thing to do. The roundtable was organized by New America Media.
“Expanding Medicaid will save lives,” said Charhonda Cox, executive director for Texans Together. “Everybody pays less when more people have insurance. Costs go down and quality of care goes up.”

The expansion, which is one component of the larger ACA, is set to take effect in January 2014 and would guarantee coverage for families earning at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty level.
Currently, there are about a quarter of Texans (6.2 million people) are uninsured. With the expansion in place that number is projected to drop down to just under 12 percent.

In addition to more healthcare coverage for adults and children, the expansion would also bring in billions of dollars in federal funds to the state.

For the first three years, the federal government would cover 100 percent of the costs. By the fourth year, states that choose to keep the expansion would pay a percentage of it out of their own budgets.
“This is a great financial deal,” said Laura Guerra-Cardua, Texas associate director for the Children’s Defense Fund. “Over the next 10 years, we would have to put in $15 billion to get $90 billion back. This is money infused back into our communities, creates tens of thousands of jobs and could really benefit everyone.”

Still, there are opponents who argue that expanding coverage would cost the state too much, especially long term.

Eva DeLuna Castro, senior budget analyst for the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin, said many legislators fear that Texas would get stuck paying for the program well after the initial free years.

“It doesn’t make sense to refuse to do a good thing now because 10 years down the road it might present a challenge,” she said. “At least for 10 years we had something good happening for our children and our adults.”

Moreover, Guerra-Cardua said taxpayers would end up paying for Medicaid costs regardless of whether Texas accepts the expansion.

“People who are uninsured still get sick,” she said. “But the difference is, they usually wait to go to the doctor and when they show up, they are much more sick…and they go to the emergency room, which is far more expensive than a doctor’s visit.

“When costs are not covered by these families, they are passed on to local taxes,” she said. “And we pay for them without the opportunity to get federal tax dollars back to help pay for that care.”
Cox said with the legislative session ending in May, there is not much time left to change the minds of legislators who refuse to accept the expansion.

“We want to make sure the folks we put in office have pressure to vote yes,” she said. “The only way they’ll do that is if they know that the people who can vote for them again want this to happen.”

This story was written as part of a series of press briefings on healthcare reform with ethnic media organized by New America Media and funded by the Atlantic Philanthropies.
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Defensores: Expansion de Medicaid salva vidas, crea trabajos

2013-03-06T09:00:00Z

JACKSON, MS - El día en que su médico le dijo que tenía una insuficiencia renal aguda y tenía que comenzar la diálisis, Mary Davis estaba más preocupada por el costo del procedimiento que por su salud. "Pensé, '¿cómo puedo pagar eso?' No tenía ni idea", recuerda Davis, de 54 años. "Ya me preocupaba de pagar mis cuentas mensuales de servicios públicos".

Como se vio después, su diálisis de tres veces a la semana costo al menos 20.000 dólares en los primeros tres meses solamente. Davis, quien había dejado su trabajo de $ 10 la hora limpiando una oficina en el centro de Jackson cuando su salud empeoró, no tenía seguro. Afortunadamente, como madre soltera de dos hijas, ella era elegible para el programa de Medicaid de Misisipí para adultos de bajos ingresos. Dos años más tarde, ella dice que no lo hubiera hecho sin Medicaid.

Misisipí tiene alrededor de 500.000 personas sin seguro médico, de los cuales 73,3 por ciento pertenecen a familias con al menos un miembro que trabaja a tiempo completo o tiempo parcial. Cerca de 46,7 por ciento de los afro americanos en el estado no tienen seguro médico, comparado con el 28,1 por ciento de los blancos. Más del 43 por ciento de los 42.000 hispanos de Misisipí no tienen seguro médico, según el Consejo Nacional de La Raza, una cifra que refleja el alto número de hispanos indocumentados del estado.

Si el estado se compromete a expandir Medicaid a los residentes de Misisipí en o por debajo del 138 por ciento del nivel de pobreza federal bajo la Ley de Asistencia Asequible, unos 280.000 a 310.000 adultos serían elegible para el seguro de salud a través de Medicaid, además de 50.000 niños, según un estudio publicado en 2012 por el Centro de Investigación de la Universidad de la Institución de Educación Superior de Misisipí (IHL por sus siglas en inglés).

Sin embargo, la plena aplicación de ACA en Misisipí se ha enfrentado a una dura batalla en la legislatura del estado. Mientras que los demócratas impulsan la expansión, diciendo que beneficiara a cientos de miles de personas de bajos ingresos, los líderes republicanos, entre ellos el gobernador de Misisipí Phil Bryant, siguen siendo escépticos, argumentando que la expansión podría aumentar dramáticamente el gasto del estado en Medicaid para cubrir las inscripciones adicional de padres e hijos actualmente elegibles.

Según el Centro de Presupuesto y Prioridades Políticas, Misisipí gastará $ 152 millones más en Medicaid para cubrir la inscripción adicional de los niños y padres de familia elegibles hasta 2022, con o sin la expansión. Este gasto adicional, sin embargo, es sólo un 7,6 por ciento más que lo que el estado habría gastado en Medicaid en ausencia de ACA.

Pero, suponiendo que habrá una alta tasa de participación bajo la expansión de Medicaid, el estudio del IHL reveló que los dólares federales que se derivarán a Misisipí podría oscilar entre una cantidad anual estimada de $ 426 millones en 2014 a $ 1,2 mil millones en 2025. Como resultado, el flujo de dólares federales también aumentara drásticamente la tasa de empleo del estado, lo que traería una estimación de 4.178 puestos de trabajo adicionales en 2014 y 8.860 puestos de trabajo en 2025.

"Ahora mismo, estamos en una batalla política entre el rojo y azul", dijo Kim Robinson, directora de programas de Iniciativas de Políticas Nacionales para el Fondo de Defensa del Niño, en una conferencia de prensa aquí con los medios étnicos.

La realidad es que dañaría la economía de Misisipí si el estado no opta por la expansión, agregó Robinson. Con más y más pacientes sin seguro médico llegando a las salas de emergencia, "los hospitales aquí finalmente cerrarían ... y veremos muchos despidos y disminución del presupuesto", dijo. "Con la expansión de Medicaid", por otro lado, "el estado recibirá los beneficios completos de ACA del gobierno federal".

A partir de 2014, durante los primeros tres años, el gobierno federal pagará el 100 por ciento de los costos asociados para los que están recién elegible para Medicaid. Después de eso, el porcentaje que cubrirá el gobierno federal se reducirá gradualmente. En 2020, el estado asumirá sólo el 10 por ciento y el gobierno federal seguirá pagando el 90 por ciento de los costos.

"Mi preocupación principal es conseguir que el público este informado", dijo Linda Rigsby, abogada de la ley de salud para el Centro para la Justicia de Misisipí, durante la sesión informativa, "y que deben obtener la información correcta y disipar los mitos".

Un mito es que tal vez el gobierno federal no pueda ser capaz de proporcionar la financiación y el estado sufriría aún más con las personas adicionales en el programa de Medicaid.

"Ese miedo de gobierno federal ¬– no podemos operar de esa manera en el siglo 21", dijo Rims Barber, director de la Coalición de Servicios Humanos de Misisipí. "Tenemos que cambiar la mentalidad y exigir la expansión de salud".

Otro de los mitos, de acuerdo con Rip Daniels, presentador de un programa de radio local, dirigido a los afro americanos, es que "hay mucha gente que va para cosas gratis. La realidad es que, incluso yo, que tengo un trabajo y seguro, no es suficiente" para cubrir gastos médicos más grandes".

Daniels desafió a los funcionarios electos de color en la legislatura "que hablan con el silencio" a apoyar abiertamente la expansión de Medicaid porque saben que ayudaría al estado y las personas de Misisipí.

En cuanto a Mary Davis, no tenía dudas de que hay miles de personas–podría ser un hermano, una hermana o un amigo–en condiciones médicas similares a ella, que van a beneficiarse de la expansión de Medicaid. "Cualquier cosa que diga la gente, es un salvavidas", dijo.
]]> 60298072

Los expertos dicen que Texas necesita la reforma de salud

2013-03-06T06:07:39Z

HOUSTON -- Muchos de los funcionarios electos del estado - incluyendo el gobernador Rick Perry y varios legisladores del estado - se niegan a expandir Medicaid bajo la Ley de Asistencia Asequible (ACA), a pesar de que Texas tiene el mayor porcentaje de ciudadanos sin seguro médico en la nación.

Según los expertos que hablaron durante una discusión de los medios étnicos en Houston, poner en marcha la ACA es lo correcto de hacer.

"La expansión de Medicaid salvará vidas", dijo Charhonda Cox, directora ejecutiva de Texas Together. "Todo el mundo paga menos cuando más gente tiene seguro. Los costos bajan y la calidad de la atención sube".

La expansión, que es un componente de la completa ACA, entrará en vigor en enero de 2014 y garantizaría la cobertura de familias con ingresos en o por debajo del 133 por ciento del nivel federal de pobreza.

En la actualidad, hay cerca de 24 por ciento (6,2 millones) de personas en Texas que no tienen seguro. Con la expansión en marcha ese número se prevé que caerá a poco menos del 12 por ciento.

Además de más cobertura de atención médica para adultos y niños, la expansión también traería miles de millones de dólares en fondos federales para el estado.

Durante los primeros tres años, el gobierno federal cubrirá el 100 por ciento de los costos. Para el cuarto año, los estados que opten por mantener la expansión pagarían un porcentaje de la misma de sus propios presupuestos.

"Esto es un asunto financiero muy grande", dijo Laura Guerra-Cardua, directora asociada de Texas para el Fondo de Defensa de los Niños. "En los próximos 10 años, tendríamos que poner $ 15 mil millones para conseguir 90 mil millones dólares de vuelta. Este es dinero reinsertado en nuestras comunidades, genera decenas de miles puestos de trabajo y podría realmente beneficiar a todos".

Aún así, hay opositores que sostienen que la ampliación de la cobertura le costaría al estado demasiado, sobre todo a largo plazo.

Eva DeLuna Castro, analista principal de presupuesto para el Centro de Prioridades de Política Pública en Austin, dijo que muchos legisladores temen que Texas podría encontrarse pagando por el programa después de los iniciales años gratis.
"No tiene sentido negarse a hacer algo bueno ahora porque a los 10 años se puede presentar un reto", dijo. "Por lo menos durante 10 años hemos tenido algo bueno sucediendo para nuestros hijos y nuestros adultos".

Por otra parte, Guerra-Cardua dijo que los contribuyentes terminan pagando por los costos de Medicaid, independientemente de si Texas acepta la expansión.

"Las personas que no tienen seguro médico todavía se enferman", dijo. "Pero la diferencia es, por lo general esperan para ir al médico y cuando se presentan, están mucho más enfermos ... y van a la sala de emergencias, que es mucho más caro que una visita al médico.

"Cuando los costos no están cubiertos para estas familias, se transmiten a los impuestos locales", dijo. "Y pagamos por ellos sin la oportunidad de obtener dólares federales de impuestos de vuelta para ayudar a pagar por dicha atención".

Cox dijo que con la sesión legislativa terminando en mayo, no queda mucho tiempo para cambiar las mentes de los legisladores que se niegan a aceptar la expansión.

"Queremos asegurarnos que la gente que pusimos al cargo tengan la presión para votar sí", dijo. "La única manera que van a hacer eso es si saben que las personas que pueden votar por ellos otra vez quieren que esto suceda".
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The ‘New Normal’ -- Calif. Youth Giving Up the Gun

2013-03-04T09:00:00Z

Ed. Note: In the debate around gun violence, no one group is impacted and implicated more than youth and young adults. Over the past several weeks NAM youth reporters from across the state have been speaking with their peers about how they experience gun violence in their neighborhoods. Those conversations convey clear gender and regional differences in the way young people experience and think about guns, yet point to an emerging consensus that youth want to see their peers give up the gun; that far from making them feel safer, guns are a root cause of the growing climate of fear and insecurity they feel in the classroom and on the streets.

The following video consists of interviews with students at Jordan High School in Long Beach, who were asked to weigh in on the debate over armed security on school campuses. The two accompanying commentaries offer perspectives from two Bay Area young women, on why young men are the most likely to perpetrate and be victims of gun violence. The sidebar is a collection of youth voices from Merced, Calif.

Young Men With Guns Don't Value My Life
Alicia Marie, San Francisco

I wasn't raised around guns, period. My experience with guns is limited to the fact that they took the lives of my favorite entertainers -- first the singer Selena, who I absolutely adored and wanted to be just like when I got older; later on it was my first crush, Tupac Shakur. So the viewpoint I’ve held consistently ever since I was a child is that guns are evil.

When the boys I was with had guns, they would tell me, "Don't worry, I got my backup in case things go bad." My own brother once told me, "415… 4 every 1 of mine, we taking 5 of theirs." That type of talk didn't appeal to me or make me feel safe -- it actually made me feel that the person saying those words was ignorant and didn't value their own life.

In Merced, Gun Culture 'Heavy'

Alyssa, 19: Growing up, I usually had a relative that was on probation or parole living with us, so that allowed law enforcement to search and seize our house without a warrant. Living in a home where house raids were common, my first experiences with guns began at a young age. My two older brothers are also gang affiliated, so having guns in the house or talk of where to get them wasn’t uncommon.

Kalvin, 17: When I was little, the cops shot at my grandma’s house because of my dad and my uncle. It was like a shoot out. Another time, when I was a baby, a rival gang member shot at my house and a bullet [hit my dad] in the eye -- thank God he’s still living! I don’t care how, but we need to stop gun violence.

Austin, 18: I live in a neighborhood that was [recently designated] Section 8. Last year, a student from Merced High School was murdered in my neighborhood in a shooting. Now with dangers like this, it is necessary for people to get protection legally. This is one of the reasons I plan to own a gun legally when I come of age.

Ana, 16: Nowadays, the only guns I’m aware of are my uncle's. He gets them pretty easy. He also takes my 11-year-old cousin to the gun range with him. I don’t think she should be allowed there. Besides all that, I believe that here in Merced guns are heavy with all the gang violence.

Lisa, 16: I constantly hear gunshots and at school classmates brag about them! One day I was lying down at home when all of a sudden I heard what sounded like wooden planks falling onto each other. My mom and I investigated the house for a bit, then we heard sirens outside. Apparently, someone was shooting at a person standing in front of our house and they missed. What if that bullet went through or shot my cat!

So what would make me think they are going to value mine?

Boys carry guns because they feel they cannot defend themselves on their own strength alone. They believe that since "everyone else has them, I need one too." But why even put yourself in a situation of needing to constantly be on the defensive, feeling like at any moment someone might attack you? If that’s the case, you need to watch who you’re associating with.

When I get off of work, which is usually around 11pm at night, I have to walk through the violent streets of the Bayview neighborhood in San Francisco. Every time a car goes by, I’m thinking, “That car could mistake me for someone else and shoot me." By the time I run home it’s midnight, and I'm exhausted from my thoughts. But I don't feel the solution is to go get a gun or be with a boy who has a gun, to get home safe. It’s not that I think girls are incapable of learning how to use guns. I would just hope that we wouldn't want to use them -- guns have a purpose, and the main one is to take lives or hurt someone. I’d rather take my chances at being safe by not carrying a weapon, but knowing that I won’t unnecessarily or accidentally take away somebody else’s precious life.

As young women, we can play a role in getting men in our community to give up their guns. We have a way of talking and reasoning to make a point, and if we were to explain to our brothers, boyfriends, cousins, uncles, and fathers the benefits of giving up their guns, and help them to do it, we could help curb these senseless murders.

And the point we need to make is this: We have to realize that people in our community have grown accustomed to using guns to settle matters. For example, if you have a headache, the first thing you’re going to want to do is take an aspirin -- it just comes natural. Likewise, guns have become the natural way to defend and settle matters in the streets; the understood way of responding to anger. So, we can make these crimes less frequent by giving the community alternative ways to deal with anger. And in doing so, we can make people who carry guns around seem ignorant and old-fashioned. We can make the alternative the new normal.

Young Men Need Guns to Feel Safer, But They're Not
Keyannie Norford, 17, Richmond

Click, clack, boom! There are a lot of things going on in today’s society, where it seems that guns are a necessity for living day to day, especially in the ‘hoods of Richmond, California, where turf wars, robberies -- even a case of mistaken identity -- can bring you face to face with a gun. But do guns really provide safety? As a girl, I can say I do not believe they make women feel safer. I believe guns are accidents waiting to happen, and they pose a threat like no other.

There are not many women I know of, other than those in law enforcement, that are actually trained to use a gun. Women are capable of learning, but it's all about the will of the individual. She has to want to know how to use it. Whether for protection, survival or any other reason, when it comes down to it, it's an individual choice. Women who own a gun may say, “Well, it’s for protection and if a situation erupts where I need protection, then it will be done.”

In the situations that I’ve seen, though, they didn’t actually use it. They just took it out or held it up to scare the other person. I have seen situations in which young women were nervous to handle a gun. They will be sweating; their hands will be trembling, their fingers twitchy.

Now when it comes to men and boys, guns get justified in many ways. Guns play a part in a man’s status, even though they may have never really handled one. Having a gun seems to be the “cool” and “modern” thing, especially here in Richmond. In reality, most males, young and old, possess guns for protection. I do know someone who protected himself and someone else because he carried. Males are fighting each other everyday over turfs, colors and gang signs, which means they have to protect the ones they care about, as well as themselves. It's almost as if carrying a gun has become a necessity in these boy’s eyes -- some type of unrevealed phobia.

For example, if they didn’t carry a gun, then they’d be afraid and paranoid about everything happening around them, thinking, “If today was the day someone decided to come after me, I'd be defenseless, and that could possibly cost me my life.” For young men, having a gun is the only way to protect themselves in this horrid generation, and it adds to their manhood. They simply need guns to stay on their “Boss Status,” for protection or just to prove a point. Living in the communities we're subject to now-a-days, it's survival of the fittest. There's violence everyday and only the protected live, which is sad, but it happens to be young man’s reality.

I do believe that women can try to influence young men to give up guns and with that, possibly save them from a life of uncertainty. But in today’s society it's just not going to work. The rate of violence is too high among men living the “thug-life “ for them to feel safe without their form of protection. But in the end, boys and men have to want to walk away from the violence as much as a young woman wants to play a role in stopping it before it possibly starts -- which goes to the choice of carrying a gun. I'm not sure exactly how we can get to a community with fewer guns, but I feel that as soon as young people and men see and feel that there is no reason to be afraid and carry weapons, then there will be fewer guns because there will be no need.

This story was compiled by reporters from NAM youth media projects, including Richmond Pulse, We'Ced in Merced, and VoiceWaves in Long Beach. Artwork courtesy of The Beat Within.