California and its Counties Leading Way on Health Benefits for Undocumented

California and its counties are exploring ways to provide undocumented immigrants with access to health care.

In a California Healthline audio report by Tara Siler, experts say the state could be a good test for the rest of the country to determine if the benefits of providing health care to such residents outweigh the costs.

The report includes comments from:

Candice Anderson, a Contra Costa County supervisor;
Rosa Maria Arriaga, a 72-year-old patient;
Álvaro Fuentes, director of Contra Costa County’s Community Clinic Consortium;
Gerald Kominski, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research;
Gabrielle Lessard, a health policy attorney with the National Immigration Law Center;
Ira Mehlman, with the Federation for American Immigration Reform;
Teshina Wilson, a physician at a Richmond clinic; and
Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California (Siler, California Healthline, 11/11).

You can download a PDF of this report.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

<h1>California and its Counties Leading Way on Health Benefits for Undocumented</h1>
<div>		<time class="posted-on" datetime="2015-11-11T06:32:00-08:00">
			November 11, 2015		</time>
		</div>
<p>California and its counties are exploring ways to provide undocumented immigrants with access to health care.</p><p>In a <em>California Healthline</em> audio report by Tara Siler, experts say the state could be a good test for the rest of the country to determine if the benefits of providing health care to such residents outweigh the costs.</p><p>The report includes comments from:</p><ul><li>Candice Anderson, a Contra Costa County supervisor;</li><li>Rosa Maria Arriaga, a 72-year-old patient;</li><li>Álvaro Fuentes, director of Contra Costa County’s Community Clinic Consortium;</li><li>Gerald Kominski, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research;</li><li>Gabrielle Lessard, a health policy attorney with the National Immigration Law Center;</li><li>Ira Mehlman, with the Federation for American Immigration Reform;</li><li>Teshina Wilson, a physician at a Richmond clinic; and</li><li>Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California (Siler, <em>California Healthline</em>, 11/11).</li></ul><p>You can <a href="https://californiahealthline.org/legacy/0E25BD8C-A66F-4A99-B68A-A3B594D105DC">download a PDF</a> of this report.</p><em><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/about-us">KFF Health News</a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about <a href="https://www.kff.org/about-us">KFF</a>.</em><p><a href="https://californiahealthline.org/morning-briefing/">Subscribe</a> to KFF Health News' free Morning Briefing.</p>

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