[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 86 (Wednesday, June 20, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1164]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


          HEALTHY SOLUTIONS FOR AMERICA'S HARDWORKING FAMILIES

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. HILDA L. SOLIS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 20, 2001

  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, for centuries immigrants from all over the 
world have helped make the United States one of the most powerful and 
wealthiest nations in the world. I am proud to represent a 
congressional district that is home to a large and vibrant immigrant 
community.
  I am very concerned about the lack of access to health care for 
immigrants. A recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation states that 
low-income immigrants are twice as likely to be uninsured as low-income 
citizens. Almost 59 percent of our nation's 9.8 million low-income non-
citizens had no health insurance in 1999, and only 15 percent received 
Medicaid.
  We need to do more to ensure that our nation's immigrants obtain 
quality health care. Preventive measures are much more cost effective 
than allowing individuals to become seriously ill due to lack of access 
to adequate healthcare services. We can and must provide better 
outreach to immigrant communities in their languages in order to reduce 
the barriers that currently make it difficult for immigrants to access 
health care.
  Immigrants pay millions of dollars in local and state taxes and they 
deserve some form of health care. In fact, according to the National 
Academy of Sciences, immigrants pay approximately $1,800 per year more 
in taxes than they use in services, yet they never access public health 
services.
  I support the ``Healthy Solutions for America's Hardworking 
Families'' Agenda which will remedy some of the problems faced by 
immigrant communities. That agenda includes the Legal Immigrant 
Children's Health Improvement Act (H.R. 1143), which will give states 
the option of allowing low-income legal immigrant children and pregnant 
women access to Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance 
Program (S-CHIP). This bill has wide support in Congress, as well as 
from the American Medical Association and the National Governors 
Association. Allowing children and pregnant women access to federal 
health care programs is simply sound public health policy.
  The Women Immigrants Safe Harbor Act is another key piece of 
legislation. This measure would allow legal immigrants who are victims 
of domestic violence to apply for critical safety net services such as 
medical and food assistance. Immigrants who are victims of domestic 
violence are frequently economically dependent on their abusers and 
isolated from their support networks. Immigrants are even more 
dependent and isolated because of restrictions passed in the 1996 
welfare reform law, which prevent a battered immigrant from access to 
the resources she needs to leave the abuser.
  I also support the Nutrition Assistance for Working Families and 
Seniors Act (H.R. 2142) which would restore food stamp eligibility for 
low-income legal immigrants and improve the food stamp program overall. 
Many tax-paying legal immigrants work low-wage jobs and they need the 
additional support that food stamps provide.
  We must not leave the immigrant community behind, especially the 
women, children, and elderly who so desperately need appropriate health 
care. I encourage my colleagues to support the ``Healthy Solutions for 
America's Hardworking Families'' Agenda to help the immigrant 
community. Our great country, as you might recall, was founded upon the 
great sacrifices that immigrants made for our democracy and economic 
prosperity.

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