<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><BR><DIV><DIV>On Apr 17, 2006, at 11:15 AM, Doug Henwood wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Marta Russell wrote:</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV> <BR><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Not in my neighborhood.<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>They are middle age people.<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>"On balance in contributing to the fisc" doesn't really mean anything to me.<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>I see the consequences of an overburdened system all around here.<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>The emergency rooms are overrun with non english speaking legals or illegals.<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>The public health care system is shutting down in LA. Emergency rooms are closing.<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>What emergency rooms remain open require 12 hour+ waits to see a doctor.<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>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.<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>Its a bottom of the barrel thing.<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>I don't care what the national stats say.<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>What is happening on the ground here is real.</DIV> <BR></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">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.</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Doug</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><BR></DIV><DIV>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?</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Marta</DIV><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#0000DD"><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></FONT></BODY></HTML>