Local leaders, health experts meet to discuss instability among immigrant communities
Gavin Nguyen
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ) – Leaders in the Coachella Valley met Tuesday to discuss how policy changes could affect immigrant communities.
Representatives from UnidosUS, the nation’s largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization, hosted the discussion on Tuesday at the Mizell Center in Palm Springs. Several different organizations, ranging from healthcare companies to local advocacy groups attended the roundtable.
With President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” passing in the Senate, which includes potential cuts to Medicaid amounting to $1 trillion, the organization said “local community leaders and UnidosUS state leads will share timely insights and data on how this bill will impact families in Riverside County and across California.”
The new version of the bill will make its way back to the House of Representatives. If passed, those cuts could leave 80 million Americans’ healthcare coverage in jeopardy, according to Dr. Ilan Shapiro, Chief Health Correspondent at AltaMed.
Dr. Shapiro attended Tuesday’s discussion, and said of the cuts, “A lot of people ask me, ‘Why would I care if I’m not carrying Medicaid in my life?’ The reality is that 80 million people around the country actually have it. That means that someone close to us actually depends on it.”
Of that figure, 3.4 million Californians could lose their access to the program.
The discussion also comes after California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a state budget last week that included rolling back undocumented immigrants’ access to Medi-Cal. The state is no longer accepting new undocumented enrollees.
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