Since last year's victory in busting through political blockage to resurrect the Low Income Health Plan, Viacare, over 3,000 Monterey County residents have enrolled, doubling last year's projections. In addition to this, and in partnership with the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council, COPA institutions reached over 2500 people through civic academies about the Affordable Care Act.

County Extends Health Insurance Bridge Program, Obamacare Enrollment Kicks In, Monterey County Weekly

Since February, One LA has enrolled over 3,000 eligible for Medicaid expansion through its mobile enrollment clinics held in local congregations. In the process, they discovered thousands of low wage taxpayers left out of Obamacare due to their immigration status. Hundreds of One LA leaders assembled mid-October to call on veteran County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky to create and fund a County-based health coverage program for 1 million undocumented residents. The Supervisor agreed to meet with One LA within 30 days to begin discussion of the plan.

Leaders also testified to the challenges experienced when trying to enroll people on Covered California, the state based health exchange that opened October 1. A board member and staff member of Covered California agreed to meet with One LA before the end of the year to discuss changes needed in the health exchanges outreach strategy.

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At least 70 leaders from Communities Organized for Relational Power (COPA) organized a meeting with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff to address immigrants' fears about reporting crime and the preponderance of racial profiling.

Participants included people like Johnny Delmar, a UCSC student who shared his story about being profiled recently by rifle-armed police looking for robbery suspects.

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"An enthusiastic crowd of about 1,500 people filled a Vallejo high school gym Sunday afternoon to welcome a new multi-county organization to the community.

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"L.A. County is teaming with OneLA to hold enrollment events in places where those needing healthcare coverage naturally congregate, such as churches and schools....Volunteers are identifying people through the church parishes and doing pre-screening so the enrollment can occur on the spot. Some of the people are eligible for Medi-Cal, and others are being enrolled in Healthy Way LA, a temporary coverage program until the Medi-Cal expansion takes place in 2014.

The effort relies on trained volunteers, with help from Neighborhood Legal Services and the L.A. County Department of Health Services. The volunteers are also working to link people with clinics near their homes."

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Bay Area IAF organizations have been in local action for years around issues effecting immigrants, and are getting ready for federal immigration reform. Leaders in Marin, Sonoma, Solano, and Napa counties have been organizing immigration workshops and clinics aimed at connecting immigrants with trusted legal support, educating people about immigration reform proposals, and building a constituency of immigrant and non-immigrant leaders to lay the local foundation for a successful pathway to citizenship. Since December, more than 500 people have participated in workshops and clinics focused on youth applying for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and over 100 native-born allies have taken part in local Immigration Action Team workshops on the history and current implications of US immigration policy.

 

One LA leaders fought for and won "Community Partner Status" with the LA County Department of Health Services, granting it direct access to the county enrollment system. Now 50 leaders will train to become 'Certified Application Assisters', with the power to directly enroll people through the County computer system at 25 One LA mobile enrollment events at member institutions. They will be supported 30 leaders at each institution trained as 'healthcare experts,' who will educate and recruit people to attend their institiution's events. The goal is to enroll thousands of eligible LA residents.

At the invitation of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, the Episcopal seminary at Berkeley's Graduate Theological Union, the Bay Area Organizing Committee (BAOC) led a week-long January intercession class in 'Organizing for Congregational Renewal.' Thirty-one seminarians, local clergy and lay leaders from Christian and Jewish congregations participated, experiencing an intensive training in broad-based organizing.

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When COPA leaders discovered a lapsed initiative to provide healthcare to low-income adults in Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties, leaders organized an assembly with seven out of the ten county supervisors and leveraged commitments to bust through the political blockage to resurrect ViaCare. Congregational and labor leaders of COPA rejoiced when the Monterey Board of Supervisors voted to implement the Low Income Health Care Plan (LIHP) and to extend healthcare coverage to as many as 1,500 additional adults. Said St. Mary of the Nativity Catholic Church and SEIU United Long Term Care Worker leader Mario Torres: "Now sooner, rather than later, I will have a doctor's appointment and that feels great."

Monterey County Board of Supervisors Approve...Pilot Program, SEIU-ULTCW

"With the presidential election over and the nation's healthcare overhaul moving forward, California officials have less than a year to clear up widespread uncertainty about future medical coverage options....Community, religious and health advocacy organizations are expected to play a critical role. Chu of One LA said the best outreach strategy is inviting people to sit down with someone they trust. 'This isn't a model of let's build it and they will come,' he said. 'They have got to go to where the customers are.'"

California Works to Get Word Out on Health Insurance Exchange, Los Angeles Times

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