Is the state of California, one of the most progressive states in the country, barring Latinos from getting the health care they need? A lawsuit alleges that Latinos were receiving insufficient health care from California.
The claims were denied by a spokesperson for the California Department of Health Care Services but Thomas Saenz, one of the attorneys who helped file the lawsuit, said it's only fair to sue the state considering that California recently passed legislation that bar discrimination in state-run programs.
Hispanics are one of the largest ethnic groups in the state so the alleged discrimination affected California's healthcare system.
California sued for not providing free health care to Latinos
(Natural News) The state of California is being sued for allegedly providing 7.2 million Latinos with insufficient healthcare.
The lawsuit, which was filed on Wednesday, alleges that California has created an “unequal system of healthcare” that discriminates against lower class residents of the state, the majority of whom are Hispanic. Essentially, the lawsuit is saying that racism is to blame for the failure of Medi-Cal – the state’s healthcare program for poorer Californians – to sufficiently reimburse doctors for treatments.
“In effect, California has created a separate and unequal system of health care, one for the insurance program with the largest proportion of Latinos (Medi-Cal), and one for the other principal insurance plans, whose recipients are disproportionately white,” says the lawsuit, which was filed by five Latino residents who depend on the state’s Medi-Cal system.
But according to one spokeswoman for the California Department of Health Care Services, the faults with Medi-Cal outlined in the lawsuit are over exaggerated. Spokeswoman Carol Sloan explained in an emailed statement that the department “has not identified any systemic problems with patient access to services in the Medi-Cal program,” and neither have federal officials.
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