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Immigrant families in California faced barriers accessing safety net programs in 2021, but community organizations helped many enroll
Immigrant families in California faced barriers accessing safety net programs in 2021, but community organizations helped many enroll
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Author(s):
- Gonzalez, Dulce, author
Karpman, Michael, author
Alvarez Caraveo, Clara, author - Contributor(s):
- Health Policy Center (Urban Institute), issuing body.
Urban Institute, issuing body. - Publication:
- Washington, DC : Urban Institute, August 2022
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Delivery of Health Care -- statistics & numerical data
Emigrants and Immigrants -- statistics & numerical data
Health Equity -- economics
Health Policy
Social Mobility
California
United States - Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- The pandemic exposed the nation’s deep inequities in social vulnerability and underscored the importance of a robust and accessible safety net that can help families through an economic and public health emergency. Immigrant families in California and other states were especially hard hit by the pandemic but also faced unique barriers to accessing the safety net (Bernstein, Gonzalez, et al. 2021; Clark et al. 2020; De Trinidad Young et al. 2020). Major federal pandemic relief initiatives followed long-standing practices of excluding undocumented immigrants from eligibility for public assistance, and some of these exclusions initially affected families with citizens and other lawfully present family members (Broder et al. 2021). Even among eligible immigrant families, language barriers, complex eligibility rules, a fear of immigration consequences, and a lack of cultural competence among some program staff compounded the difficulties many people face in meeting the complex requirements of established health, nutrition, housing, and cash assistance programs that predated the pandemic (Bell et al. 2022; Bernstein, Gonzalez, et al. 2021; Moynihan et al. 2015; Perreira et al. 2012). Understanding the difficulties navigating safety net programs that eligible immigrant families in California share with other families, as well as their unique barriers, can inform policies that help such families obtain needed assistance. Strategies to address these barriers are especially relevant as California closes gaps in eligibility based on immigration status for full-scope Medicaid (known as Medi Cal in California) and a state-funded food benefit for immigrants known as the California Food Assistance Program. Drawing on data from the December 2021 round of the Urban Institute’s Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey (WBNS), a nationally representative survey of nonelderly adults, we assessed family participation in and experiences with seven public benefit programs among adults in California immigrant families in 2021. Respondents could have reported program participation for themselves, a spouse or partner, or their children under age 19 who live with them. We also estimated the share of adults in immigrant families who reported they did not apply for noncash public benefit programs because of concerns about adversely affecting their or a family member’s immigration status.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-DC license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (21 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918471488606676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918471488606676