Help Increase Immigrants' Medicaid Access

Under current law, legal immigrants with low incomes must wait FIVE YEARS in order to be eligible for Medicaid. The only exception to this rule is for pregnant women and children. Given the fact that over 70% of Medicaid recipients are women, this arbitrary 5 year waiting period disproportionately affects women and only hinders access to vital health services. As we know, lack of access to preventive health care only complicates problems and increases costs down the road.

Thankfully, on Monday, 12/7, Senator Menendez (D-NJ) filed an amendment to the Senate health care reform bill to provide states with the option to remove this five year waiting period for legal immigrants! The vote is expected this week.

You've organized and taken action to protect women's health and defeat the Nelson-Hatch amendment. Now it's time to stand up for low-income immigrants' access to health care!

Call your Senators today and urge them to vote in favor of the Menendez amendment. You can reach your Senators through the Capitol switchboard at 202.224.3141. If it's busy, visit: www.senate.gov and look up your Senator, then call their direct DC and District office lines with your message.

Thank you for your help!

Photo courtesy of flikr.com/Joseph Hoetzl

Senator Boxer speaks at LA FMF

On Monday, June 29th, US Senator Barbara Boxer (CA) spoke at the Feminist Majority Foundation in Los Angeles. Senator Boxer addressed FMF interns and staff as well as the Women’s Political Committee (WPC).

One of the strongest voices in the Senate for women’s right to choose, Barbara Boxer has been supported by the WPC and Peg Yorkin, Chair of FMF's Board of Directors, since her election to the House of Representatives in 1982. She is now serving her third term as a US Senator and is running for re-election in 2010.

With a sense of humor regarding her grandson’s observation of her hair remaining blond while her husband’s gets grayer, she also dove into more serious issues such as the environment, women’s international rights, and her upcoming election.

She emphasized the importance of campaign contributions in her upcoming election, in which former Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Officer Carly Fiorina has said she might run.

She also addressed the FMF and Ms interns in attendance, who numbered over 20. “To the interns,” she said, “you couldn’t be at a better place. What you will learn here [at FMF is] that you can be anything you set your mind to… I am very glad you’re here, learning self respect and self confidence.”

She stated that maturity is reached when you are not afraid to do what is right, such as contradicting someone who says something wrong or unjust. That, she says, makes you a leader.

She was optimistic about the future, though she did allude to the inequality still present in our society, such as the gender wage gap. “We’re still not earning what we should,” she said in reference to women.

She also acknowledged that women have made strides, such as the recent passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Act.

She pointed out the need for women to participate more in the political process. “We are a majority. When women vote, women win, and I believe families win.”

-Kimberly Young, Choices Campus Leadership Intern-