Cal MediConnect was intended to help seniors who qualify for MediCal and Medicare. The California Department of Health Care Services expected the program to be a hit. It wasn’t. As of last July, only 28 percent of eligible people were enrolled in Cal MediConnect.
Since the 1970s, a state rule has required farmworkers to move at least 50 miles away from a migrant camp at the end of the season in order to continue to qualify for the housing. Now, advocates are trying to get California officials to change the 50-mile rule, which they say jeopardizes the educations of farmworker children, among other problems.
What many California seniors and older adults don’t realize is that California offers a respite for them when their parents or other family members become ill. A surprisingly low number of caregivers take advantage of the temporary relief, which is automatically deducted from employees’ paychecks.
Senators Lamar Alexander, a Republican of Tennessee, and Patty Murray, a Democrat of Washington, reached a deal Tuesday to fund the subsidies for two years. That deal needs a Congressional vote to be approved but even if it falls through, low-income residents in California will still be unaffected.
The combination of soaring rents and aging baby boomers has created an insatiable demand for affordable housing in California. Thousands of people apply just to get on a wait list. As a result, some low-income seniors die still hoping for a place of their own. In the meantime, they cram into shared spaces, live with family, sleep on couches or even end up homeless.
By one measure—ozone levels—air quality has improved statewide since 1980, but pockets of California continue to experience poor air quality.
When I first met Daniel, he was 2 months old. His aunt, Sandra, brought him to the clinic in South Los Angeles where I work as a pediatrician because he had persistent coughing. While I was examining his lungs, he coughed so hard that he vomited in my hair. I was worried that he might have whooping cough and I started asking more about his history. First question: Why was he with his aunt and not his parents?
Sandra told me that U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement, known as ICE, had detained both of Daniel’s parents in June after a domestic violence event that occurred in public.
A new bill from Baldwin Park Assemblywoman Blanca Rubio aims to make it easier for domestic violence victims to receive CalWORKs and ensure that caseworkers offer resources to survivors.
In the last 15 years, the number of children enrolled in California’s low-income health program has steadily grown. Hospital discharge data for children illustrates this trend, according to a report released earlier this month by Kidsdata using figures from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.
Norma has been working since she was a teenager. She started working as a farmworker, then became a cannery worker and now works in childcare. Now at 60 years old, she is unsure if she “will ever be able to retire.” Her story is illustrative of the challenges that Latino seniors face trying to afford retirement, health care, food and housing.