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Wednesday, September 29th, the City Council’s Health
Committee, chaired by Council Member Christine Quinn, and the
Immigration Committee, chaired by Council Member Kendall Stewart, held a
joint oversight hearing. The purpose was to examine the obstacles
immigrants face when attempting to access health care in New York City,
and to gather recommendations about what needs to be done so immigrants
receive complete and adequate health care services.
The discussion focused on two pieces of legislation sent to the
Health Committee for a vote. The first resolution, sponsored by Stewart,
addresses the problem of language barriers immigrants experience in
seeking medical services. The other, sponsored by Quinn, deals with a
law the government is considering passing that would require hospitals
to report the immigration status of their patients in order to get
reimbursed for medical treatment of undocumented immigrants.
Excellent
testimony was presented by a panel consisting of Adam Gurvich, Director
of Health Advocacy for the New York Immigration Coalition; Joaquin
Morante, Education/Outreach Coordinator for the Commission on the
Public's Health System; Dr. Francesca Gany from the Center for Immigrant
Health; Liliana Vaamonde for the Legal Aid Society; and Michael Scherz
with the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.
They
were followed by members of the Immigrant Health Access and Advocacy
Collaborative, represented by Kathy Momperousse of Haitian Americans
United for Progress, Nora Chaves with Latin American Integration Center,
and Seongho Kim, from Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New
York. Joining them was Maria Santos from Make the Road by Walking, who
provided in Spanish personal testimony about her own experience
struggling with the health care system.
As the speakers
made clear, despite the fact that nearly 4 million New Yorkers are
foreign-born and merely 13% of the city’s residents are proficient in
English, many medical facilities do not have skilled interpreters to
translate and to provided transcriptions of hospital forms as required
by state law. Therefore, thousands of immigrants don’t receive proper
medical care, but instead undergo the demeaning and dangerous experience
of being unable to understand their diagnosis, treatment or instructions
such as how to take their medication. Decisions are often made without
their consent, and they’re often made to sign forms they don’t
understand.
Also addressed was the fear many immigrants have about going to
clinics, hospitals, emergency rooms and other medical facilities because
of concerns regarding their immigration status. Even though city
hospitals operate under a "don't ask, don't tell" policy with regards to
a patient’s status, many individuals fear being reported to Immigration
and Naturalization Services.
Dr. Karen Scott Collins, Deputy Chief Medical Officer from the New
York City Health and Hospitals Corp. (HHC), spoke at length during the
hearing about measures aimed at correcting these problems, and, most
importantly, about the fact that HHC is "vehemently opposed to the
proposed requirement to ask patients about their immigration status."
The HHC’s contends that, "This would pose a significant public health
threat for entire communities, because it may keep undocumented
immigrants from seeking care for communicable diseases. HHC's mission is
to provide health care to all who need it, and our employees are
strictly forbidden from disclosing immigration status or any other
information about our patients."
Rose Gasner, Director of Policy and Planning from the Department of
Health and Mental Hygiene, said that her department stands solidly with
HHC in this matter. And Council Member Quinn reported that she received
word that the Greater New York Hospitals Association had held a board
meeting to finalize their position on the issue. "They have come out in
support of the Council’s resolution," Quinn said. "So this is a very
good indicator that we will have the private hospitals and the entire
New York City hospital system with us in this battle."
Jimmy
Yan, General Counsel from the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, also
conveyed the full support of the Mayor's office in both the language and
immigration status disclosure issues. Angela Ramirez was sent from Rep.
Joseph Crowley's office to deliver the same message.
The Health Committee voted 5 to 1 in favor of the two resolutions.
The
hearing was followed by a press conference on the steps of City Hall
where many Councilmembers and advocates spoke strongly on the issues.
Council Member Stewart declared, "The move by some Republicans in
Congress to turn the members of our medical profession into secret
police informants to inform on the immigration status of sick people
seeking help at our hospitals is plain Un-American and obscene. Our
health professionals should not be doing the dirty work of the
Department of Homeland Security because many innocent adults and
children will be hurt."
Haitian-born Kathy Momperousse said, "Bush wants to turn hospitals
into law enforcers just when a lot of these hospitals are finally
gaining the trust of the Caribbean community. Many people with serious
health issues will stop going until they end up in the emergency room or
worse."
Ericka Mosheshe, Executive Director for the American Cancer Society's
Upper Manhattan office, put it very succinctly: "No one should have to
choose between the fear of dying and the fear of being deported."
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