On March 18th the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors held a discussion and workshop to help determine whether or not they will provide healthcare funding to undocumented people.
Many gathered at the Sacramento County Administration Center in downtown in full support of providing healthcare to everyone. Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson was among the many who came and he gave a testimony stating “I am here fully supporting the folks here that have the shirts on that say health4all.”
The Health4all campaign is pushing for a reversal of a decision made by the county board in 2009. If it is reversed then healthcare will be provided for people without documentation.
“The Health4all campaign is critical for Sacramento County,” says Elaine Abelaye-Mateo from Building Healthy Communities. Sacramento has a dense population of undocumented residents and people being affected by this lack healthcare. Many undocumented people end up having to go to the emergency room and receive hefty bills they can’t pay, so ultimately the government is paying for this.
“Rather than taking care of things down the line, we can prevent so many things,” says Diego Vargas, a medical student from UC Davis. These repercussions have a heavy impact on our economy and the board of supervisors could be the people to fix this. Through workshops and discussions, they are working towards a reasonable compromise and better living conditions for Sacramento’s residents.
