April 17, 2007

Contact Governor Schwarzenegger's Office Today!

Tell the Governor to support ICHIA and

Maximize Federal Funding for California's Children!

Governors are currently circulating and many have signed onto a letter to urge Congress to pass the Legal Immigrant Children's Improvement Act (ICHIA) as part of SCHIP reauthorization this year.1 (The text of the Governors' letter is below).

ICHIA is federal legislation that would restore equity and provide federal funding to states that cover lawfully residing immigrant children and pregnant women in Medicaid and SCHIP. California currently provides health coverage for immigrant children and pregnant women in the Medi-Cal and Healthy Families programs and with the passage of ICHIA would receive federal dollars to continue to do so. The Governor's support of ICHIA makes sound economic sense and helps move California forward towards real health care reform.

Please contact the Governor's office TODAY and urge Governor Schwarzenegger to sign onto the Governors' letter supporting ICHIA.

The Governor must sign on to the letter by this Friday, April 20th.

After you contact Governor Schwarzenegger's office, please let the California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC) know by emailing: csanders@caimmigrant.org.

Sample Script to the Governor to sign on:

Hello, this is ____ calling from ____. [Briefly describe your group]. I am calling to urge Governor Schwarzenegger to sign-on to the letter supporting ICHIA [pronounced like the store IKEA] received from Washington's Governor Christine Gregoire's office last week. The letter urges Congress to pass ICHIA which will allow states the flexibility to cover low-income immigrant children and pregnant women in the SCHIP and Medicaid programs and provide federal funding to do so. Since California currently provides this coverage in our Healthy Families and Medi-Cal programs, we urge Governor Schwarzenegger to sign the Governors' letter of support of ICHIA to maximize federal dollars for California and move California forward on health care reform. We ask that the Governor sign this letter as soon as possible but no later than Friday, April 20. Thank you.

AND, SIGN ON YOURSELF TO SUPPORT ICHIA: If you haven't done so already, please join hundreds of organizations nationally who have signed a letter of support asking Congress to support ICHIA during the SCHIP reauthorization process this year. To read the letter of support and SIGN ON, go to:

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/NILC/signUp.jsp?key=2115

GOVERNORS' LETTER TO HOUSE/SENATE LEADERSHIP:

We the undersigned state governors urge you to support the "Immigrant Children's Health Improvement Act" (ICHIA, S.764, H.R.1308). ICHIA grants states the option to cover lawfully residing immigrant children and pregnant women under the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and Medicaid. This legislation would go far in restoring equity to the coverage of uninsured children and should be an essential component of this year's SCHIP reauthorization.

In 1996, Congress passed legislation that bars states from using federal funds to serve recently admitted legal immigrants in Medicaid or SCHIP during their first five years in the United States. This restriction has led to increased racial and ethnic health disparities among children in the U.S. While SCHIP and Medicaid expansions have increased insurance coverage for citizen children over the past decade, coverage for low-income immigrant children has fallen further behind. This is true even though almost half of the states (22) have chosen to extend health coverage to them using state funds, recognizing that SCHIP and Medicaid are vital supports. Providing states the option to use federal funds through SCHIP and Medicaid to cover immigrant children would encourage more states to do so and would give fiscal redress to the states that are already doing so.

Research shows that immigrant children are much less likely to obtain medical care than native-born children. Failing to provide basic preventive care for immigrant children jeopardizes their health and creates a need for subsequent - more expensive - care. Similarly, failing to provide prenatal care risks the health of newborn U.S. citizens and increases the need for costly medical interventions after birth.

It is not only fiscally unwise but also arbitrary and fundamentally unfair to deny health coverage to immigrant children and pregnant women. Legal resident families contribute to the fabric of their communities. Their members pay taxes that support public health insurance programs, and they serve in the military, defending and dying for our country. Despite immigrants' high rate of employment, almost half of low-income immigrant children are uninsured, a rate three times higher than that of children from native-born families. That is why any serious commitment to "covering all kids," to reducing health disparities, or to increasing the enrollment of low-income children and pregnant women in SCHIP and Medicaid, must redress the arbitrary exclusion of lawfully residing immigrants from these programs.

ICHIA has a history of strong bipartisan support in both the Senate and the House of Representatives; and many major state and local government organizations have endorsed this policy change. We lend our support to the effort and look forward to working with you to pass ICHIA as a critical part of reauthorizing SCHIP.

1 As of April 16, 2007, the following Governors have signed on to the letter of support for ICHIA: MD Gov. Erhlich (R); IL Gov. Blagojevich; OK Gov. Henry; NY Gov. Spitzer; NJ Gov. Corzine; OR Gov. Kulongowski; MA Gov. Patrick; WA Gov. Gregoire; PA Gov. Rendell. Governors must contact Mark Rupp from Governor Gregoire's office at: Tel: (202) 624-3691, Fax: (202) 624-5841 to sign on to the ICHIA letter.

California Immigrant Policy Center -- A Statewide Partnership of: APALC - Asian Pacific American Legal Center, NILC - National Immigration Law Center, CHIRLA - Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, SIREN - Services Immigrant Rights & Education Network.