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Outreach To Enroll Undocumented Children in Medi-Cal Begins

The Dolores Huerta Foundation
Yesenia Contreras and Emily Hernandez of Dignity Health interviewed on Univision

Immigration advocates are starting a new outreach effort in Kern County to enroll undocumented children inMedi-Cal. This is the first year undocumented kids can enroll in the government-sponsored insurance program.

There are an estimated 170,000 undocumented children living in California and a recent change in state law means that for the first time they can sign up for Medi-Cal insurance.

The Dolores Huerta Foundation is launching an outreach effort called "Health For All Kids" to find and enroll the children.

Yesenia Contreras with the foundation says they are going to start by going door-to-door this week in east Bakersfield.

“With the implementation of the Medi-Cal expansion, California will be the fifth state in the nation and the state with the largest immigrant population to expand affordable quality health care to  low-income, undocumented immigrant children,” Contreras said.

Children who enroll now will only have access to limited scope Medi-Cal until May when they are automatically moved to full-service Medi-Cal.

The foundation also hopes that by reaching out to undocumented families they can be ready if the state ever decides to expand the program to cover undocumented adults in addition to their children.

Jeffrey Hess is a reporter and Morning Edition news host for Valley Public Radio. Jeffrey was born and raised in a small town in rural southeast Ohio. After graduating from Otterbein University in Columbus, Ohio with a communications degree, Jeffrey embarked on a radio career. After brief stops at stations in Ohio and Texas, and not so brief stops in Florida and Mississippi, Jeffrey and his new wife Shivon are happy to be part Valley Public Radio.