Earlier this month, the U.S. Census Bureau released the latest data on income, poverty, and health coverage.

Our new fact sheet, Health Coverage in Communities of Color: Talking about the New Census Numbers takes a closer look at the latest data and finds that communities of color continue to bear the brunt of the uninsured crisis. This fact sheet looks at who is uninsured, who is living in poverty, and why public programs are vital to communities of color.

As Congress continues to debate about how to best improve our nation’s health care system, we’re presented with the opportunity to eliminate disparities in health coverage and address other inequities in the system.

We hope you find this a valuable resource in your work to achieve health equity.

To download the new fact sheet, click here.

Yesterday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger released two budget proposals of cuts to fill a $15 to $21 billion deficit. These are the same cuts he’s proposed before, including cuts to services for immigrants, cuts to hospitals, and cuts to IHSS, SSI/SSP, and CALWORKS. He also announced that he is requesting a federal waiver to make huge reductions to Medi-Cal that are currently not allowed by federal law. You can find a summary of the cuts at the California Budget Project.

The Governor is threatening even more cuts if Proposition 1A doesn’t pass but this is misleading!

Proposition 1A doesn’t even help this year or next year’s budgets.
Proposition 1A gives the Governor unilateral power to make budget cuts, even after the budget’s been passed.

• Proposition 1A will result in cuts to health programs year after year into the future.

• Communities of color will be hurt the most by these never-ending cuts. Once these programs are cut or eliminated it will be next to impossible to restore them if Proposition 1A passes.

• Oppose Proposition 1A, 1D, and 1E by voting NO on May 19!

Also make your voice heard about these harmful cuts by joining hundreds of advocates at the Capitol on Monday May 18 for Immigrant Day. Click here for more information.

Let us know if you took action by emailing Marty Martinez at mmartinez@cpehn.org

On May 19th Californians will vote  on a series of ballot propositions resulting from a budget deal negotiated  between legislators and the Governor.

The  most harmful of the measures is Proposition 1A.

• Proposition  1A creates an arbitrary limit on state spending, putting the state on autopilot  with cuts as the only solution.

• Communities of color, who are less likely to have health insurance through  their employer and who represent almost three-quarters of Medi-Cal and  Healthy Families recipients, will feel the brunt of the cuts if Proposition 1A passes.

• Proposition  1A also gives the governor unilateral power to make budget cuts without the  approval of the legislature.

All of this in exchange for a mere two years of  temporary tax increases, which won’t take effect until 2011!

Two  other measures will divert money from local health programs to back-fill the  state’s budget deficit.

• Proposition  1D will divert First 5 tobacco tax funds that currently provide health insurance  to children who would not otherwise be able to get coverage.

• Proposition  1E will reduce funding to county programs that serve people with mental  illnesses.

Please  vote no on Props 1A, 1D, and 1E!

Let us know  if you took action by emailing Marty Martinez at mmartinez@cpehn.org.

Out of Many, One (OMO) is a national multicultural coalition that has been advocating for health equity and parity for communities of color since 2000.  OMO works to assure that every ethnic and racial group, regardless of its size or immigration status, has equal access to health care coverage, access and treatment, and that disparities experienced by these groups are eliminated. OMO premises its goals on an understanding that directly collected, self-reported, and disaggregated data are essential to achieve these purposes, and to develop culturally and linguistically appropriate policies and programs to improve the quality of life, health status and health care outcomes of minority populations.

OMO understands that without data on race, ethnicity, gender, and primary language, public and private health care organizations will not be able to design policies and programs that improve health outcomes for communities of color, which compromise 34% of the nation’s population. The below recommendations are supported by our members and others who are part of a Health Data Task Force (HDTF) that meets monthly in Washington, DC. We are ready to work with you and your organization to incorporate these recommendations into legislation and build community support for these initiatives nationwide.

Please don’t hesitate to contact Ms. Ruth Perot (email: rperot@shireinc.org or call (202) 371-0277) and/or Ms. Jeannette Noltenius (email: jnoltenius@sswdc.com or call (202) 328-1313) if you would like to meet with OMO or HDTF members to clarify and/or discuss our recommendations.

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