Source: National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health and National Council of Jewish Women
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/167QDsHUqXwJFujk5x0iy24ZMdJHqHgqVZtr4eI8DjfM/viewform
Dear Colleagues,
Please join the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH) and the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) in the below letter to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee (also attached).
We welcome Senate consideration of comprehensive immigration reform – an issue that is greatly in need of attention. As advocates for women’s health, however, we have concerns about provisions in the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act” that would be deleterious to the health of women and their families. We urge the Senate Judiciary Committee to lift prohibitions on access to health coverage in the bill and affirm equitable access to health care for all. We are urging them to lift the five year delay on access to federal means-tested benefits, including Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), food assistance (SNAP), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and children's health insurance (CHIP).
As the Judiciary Committee takes up S. 744, we're here to demonstrate that the chorus of voices dedicated to an inclusive, just, and humane roadmap to citizenship that advances the health of immigrant women, families, and communities is strong -- and diverse. Please sign on your organization (local, state, and national) below to show your support by COB May 8, 2013.
Please contact Natalie Camastra (Natalie@latinainstitute.org) or Madeline Shepherd (madeline@ncjwdc.org) with any questions. Thanks!
Full text below:
DATE
The Honorable Senator Leahy
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee
437 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Chairman Leahy,
We welcome Senate consideration of comprehensive immigration reform – an issue that is greatly in need of attention. As advocates for women’s health, however, we have concerns about provisions in the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act” that would be deleterious to the health of women and their families. We urge the Senate Judiciary Committee to lift prohibitions on access to health coverage in the bill and affirm equitable access to health care for all. As a critical first step, we ask the Senate Judiciary Committee to remove the five-year bar on immigrant’s access to vital health care and family economic support programs. Women comprise the majority – 51% – of the immigrant population, yet issues of concern to women, particularly the need to advance access to quality and affordable health coverage and care have not been adequately addressed in this legislation.
Immigrant women are important contributing members of society who promote success at the workplace, in the home, and in their communities. Yet current federal policies governing immigrant women’s access to health care and family economic supports, like the five-year bar, defy sound public health policies; are based on harmful myths and stereotypes; and undermine immigrant women’s ability to fully contribute to the success of their families, communities, and our nation’s economy.
As such, we are concerned that the immigration reform bill produced by the bipartisan group in the U.S. Senate does nothing to address the current restrictions and will leave many immigrant women without access to affordable and quality health care. As currently written, an undocumented immigrant woman coming forward to obtain citizenship is barred from means-tested federal benefits like Medicaid for the minimum 10-year period she is a registered provisional immigrant (RPI). In addition to this 10-year restriction, she will also face an additional five-year wait under current law. As a registered provisional immigrant, she will also be ineligible for premium tax credits and subsidies to facilitate her participation in the health insurance marketplaces, placing these new health plans out of reach for many immigrant women. As such, an immigrant woman may have to wait 15 years or more before she can access affordable health coverage options.
This proposal is short-sighted and jeopardizes women’s health. Health coverage for women can mean the difference between preventing and managing a treatable condition or, facing barriers to care, having those conditions exacerbated while going undetected and untreated. The latter circumstance can jeopardize a woman’s health and well-being across her lifespan. For a woman without access to routine care for 15 years, for example, an undetected, untreated sexually transmitted infection may cause infertility. Tragically, for a woman with undiagnosed breast or cervical cancer, 15 years can be the difference between life and death.
Beyond the human costs associated with delaying health coverage for a decade or more, the health coverage exclusions in the bipartisan immigration reform bill are fiscally short-sighted and impact immigrant women’s ability to live as fully productive and independent members of society. Immigrant women are more productive when they have access to health care and are better able to work, care for their families, and pursue educational and employment opportunities. Additionally, when immigrant women and families don’t have health coverage, the need for medical attention does not go away. Immigrant women without health insurance may either delay treatment for a preventable disease like cervical cancer, leading to higher costs and greater suffering, or seek care through under-resourced and expensive emergency systems. This undermines immigrant women’s financial stability and increases health costs for the entire system. Expansions in health coverage have alleviated the costs of such emergency care by promoting preventive measures, detection, and early treatment; to exclude immigrants on the roadmap to citizenship is not only unfair, but fiscally irresponsible.
As such, we urge you to lift the five-year bar to accessing critical federal benefit programs such as Medicaid imposed on lawfully present immigrants. Doing so will improve immigrant women’s access to health coverage, utilization of preventive care, and management of health conditions — outcomes that serve to benefit immigrant women and families as well as the health and economic well-being of our communities.
Immigrant women and families on the path to citizenship are committed to being in America. They should have the same responsibilities, and access to supports for which they are eligible, as other Americans.
We thank you for your time and consideration to these issues.
Sincerely,
LIST IN DEVELOPMENT
National Council of Jewish Women
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
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