[lbo-talk] Dean Baker on immigration

Jim Devine jdevine03 at gmail.com
Mon Apr 17 13:37:21 PDT 2006


the big problem in California, as I understand it, is not all the languages as much as the small budget for MediCal -- compared to the generally steep rise in medical costs.

On 4/17/06, Marta Russell <ap888 at lafn.org> wrote:
>
>
> On Apr 17, 2006, at 11:15 AM, Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> Marta Russell wrote:
>
>
>
> Not in my neighborhood. They are middle age people. "On balance in
> contributing to the fisc" doesn't really mean anything to me. I see the
> consequences of an overburdened system all around here. The emergency rooms
> are overrun with non english speaking legals or illegals. The public health
> care system is shutting down in LA. Emergency rooms are closing. What
> emergency rooms remain open require 12 hour+ waits to see a doctor. My
> disabled friends suffer because there are so many people on MediCal that
> they have cut doctor pay down to next to nothing and they don't get decent
> service. Its a bottom of the barrel thing. I don't care what the national
> stats say. What is happening on the ground here is real.
>
> Ok, then it's your observation vs. more than 20 years of extensive survey
> and interview research into Mexican immigration by the sociologist Douglas
> Massey.
>
> Doug
>
> When people start seeing the state spending tens of thousands of dollars
> printing every Medi-Cal notice in 21 different languages, even the most left
> in the disability community are alarmed by what this portends. One person
> I know who has spent her life dedicated to homeless and legal services said,
> I get this notice from MediCal in all these languages and I can't even get
> my teeth fixed. So there is certainly a clash. And how would you feel if
> you couldn't get your teeth fixed because the system is loaded down so much
> that they cut dental benefits?
>
> Marta
>
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>

-- Jim Devine / "There can be no real individual freedom in the presence of economic insecurity." -- Chester Bowles



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