My Health Shouldn't Have a ‘Price Tag' DACA Youth Turned

Away for Medi-Cal

FRESNO,

Calif. – Maria Fernandez was three years old when she came to the United States in 1993. As an undocumented immigrant she’s faced a number of struggles, including gaining access to quality medical care. That might have changed after Fernandez – who suffers from chronic back pain – applied for President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

Before DACA, Fernandez, 24, says the prospect of a substantial hospital bill “just wasn’t worth it. I know it’s my health and that my health shouldn’t have a price tag, but it does and I’m not the one who put it there.”

Fernandez grew up in a mixed status household, with some of her relatives U.S.-born citizens, and others, including herself, undocumented. She was initially reluctant to apply for DACA, fearing widespread rumors that she would “be deported” and separated from her family. But on the urging of her parents, she decided to apply for DACA in 2012.

The federal program offers eligible applicants a renewable two-year reprieve from deportation, as well as work authorization and access to education.

For Fernandez, in addition to getting a social security number and the chance to work legally, DACA would finally allow her to get the kind of medical care she needed.

Soon after the Obama administration announced DACA in 2012, the president declared that undocumented immigrants, including DACA recipients, would not be given access to health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. But California is one of a handful of states that runs a parallel health insurance program, Medi-Cal, that is wholly funded by state dollars and is available to low-income residents, including DACA recipients.

According to a 2015 UCLA study, 60 percent of DACA-eligible Californians lack private health insurance and are low income. This means that as many as 262,000 DACA recipients in California are potentially eligible for Medi-Cal.

In June, Governor Jerry Brown approved a $40 million budgetary allocation to help cover the cost of providing Medi-Cal for the state’s 170,000 undocumented children.

Maria Fernandez, 24, was incorrectly turned down for Medi-Cal by an uninformed county worker.

But after Fernandez applied for DACA, she soon learned that her family had fallen victim to fraud, paying $2,000 for an application that should have only cost $465.

Fernandez now works with a group called Students Without Borders, which helps potential DACA recipients avoid the kind of pitfalls she experienced. Still, Fernandez’ own struggles with getting health care were not over.

When she went to apply for Medi-Cal, a county worker turned her away after she divulged her immigration status, despite the fact that Fernandez was qualified.

Her case is not unique. State lawmaker and chair of the assembly health committee Richard Pan acknowledged at a press briefing last year that the California Department of Health Care Services had failed to issue new guidelines to county agencies on DACA eligibility for Medi-Cal.

The failure, he noted, led to hundreds of eligible applicants like Fernandez being turned away.

“They are being denied the opportunity to see a doctor, the opportunity to get their medication, being denied access to treatment,” said Pan.

As if to prove the point, when Fernandez told the county worker that DACA recipients were eligible to apply the county worker simply replied, “I don’t know anything about that.”

Fernandez says at the time she didn’t feel like she could question the worker. “You feel like they’re more informed on the topic than you are. It’s their job after all.”

As a result Fernandez remains uninsured. “I honestly haven’t wanted to go back after I was rejected.” Between a busy school schedule and work, Fernandez is hard pressed to find time to return to the county office and restart what she describes as “not an easy process.”

Still, she says she does plan on seeking help from Centro La Familia, a non-profit organization based in Fresno that offers assistance with health enrollment and that she is hopeful that she will one day become insured.

Information on access to health insurance can also be found at the Covered California website.

Fresno’s Art Scene Flourishes Despite Lack of Support

The sky darkened over the San Francisco Bay as a young woman collapsed into a heap on a green plastic seat.

She was winded from running to catch the bus after work. She settled in for the long commute from Emeryville across the bay to her rowhouse rental in San Francisco.

“I told myself I’m going to do it tonight,” she said. “I told myself I’m going to draw before I go to bed, but I don’t know.”

She leaned her head against the glass window absently staring at the concrete buildings and city lights that zipped by out of focus.

For Fresno-born painter Andreyna Cazares, life in San Francisco is more about survival than expression.

“I would make time to create in Fresno—here my main concern is how I make my living,” she said.

Cazares moved to San Francisco over a year ago in hopes of finding artistic growth but because of the high cost of living she has been struggling to find the spark.

“I thought that this would be a great source of inspiration for me—I feel like I was way more inspired in Fresno,” Cazares said. “Here people are nice, but they are very focused on the everyday grind.”

It’s no wonder people are focused on making ends meet. The median cost of a 1-bedroom apartment in San Francisco is $3430 per month, which makes it the most expensive rental market in the state.

Cazares’s current work as a hair stylist in Emeryville leaves her with little time or energy to create.

“I was surrounded by a lot of creative people in Fresno—I hung out with a lot of passionate people, they dedicated so much time and effort in craft,” Cazares said.

Back in Cazares’s hometown of Fresno, artist and professor of Art, Teresa Flores settles into a quiet room in the Conley Art Gallery at Fresno State.

“In San Francisco and in LA artists are being priced out of affordable housing,” explained Flores. Flores knows that not many artists can afford raising rents in neighborhoods long known for their creativity in bigger cities.

This makes Fresno an attractive place for artists, since the median price for a 1-bedroom is only $660 per month.

“Fresno always has had an art scene,” Flores said. “It’s not oversaturated with artists like L.A. or San Francisco, which is why something like the feminist art movement really flourished here and then moved on to California Institute of the Arts.”

Alvaro Romero, a multimedia artist and business owner based in Fresno, said that while the art scene is alive in Fresno, “patrons are few and galleries are severely lacking.”

“[Fresno] has talented artists but its audience is undereducated, appreciation of art is next to nonexistent,” Romero said.

“[In San Francisco] the incomes are higher and the education is much higher,” Romero said. “Education is crucial to [art] appreciation.”

Flores explains Fresno is not known for its art community because of a lack of education and understanding.

“We don’t get a lot of art education in schools,” Flores said. “The city of Fresno contributes zero dollars to the Fresno Arts Council, yet they’re marketing the murals like ‘come see our murals, come see the fantastic talent that we have here!’”

The travel website Thrillist named Fresno one of best cities in America for murals and street art recently because of the high concentration of murals in what some call the Mural District just north of downtown.

“It’s frustrating as an artist because the city is benefitting off the work of the artist but they’re not really giving back to artists,” Flores said.

Still, Flores and her artist friends believe “Fresno is special and that it’s our home and it’s what drives our work.”

While the rent might be cheap, the lack of investment from City Hall and a severe lack of arts education in schools means that the Fresno arts scene remains in the shadow of larger cities-- at least in public perception.

Thursday, January 21.

“It’s a good testing ground. Fresno is a good place to experiment, but we do have room for growth.” As for Cazares, she remains uncertain how much longer she will continue to live in San Francisco.

“Like it’s cool and stuff but, I’m not in love with it,” Cazares said. “I’ve always told myself I would go back to Fresno after I’m a little more established in my career.”