Undocumented immigrants make up a large percentage of the uninsured in California, and that can have a ripple effect on people who are eligible for health insurance.
It’s estimated undocumented immigrants make up about 40 percent of uninsured adults in California. They are not eligible to enroll in either Medi-Cal or Covered California, the state’s health exchange whose annual open enrollment period began this week.
About 2 million people are eligible but haven’t enrolled. Flannery Hauck with SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, which has worked to sign people up for insurance, says many of the eligible live in mixed-immigration status families.
“That’s one of the reasons that we have to help people overcome their fear,” Hauck said. “Is to understand that family members are eligible to enroll and there’s going to be no repercussions. But that’s why doing this work in person and in appropriate language really makes a difference.”