A group of immigrantsmostly Latinos, demanded this Wednesday with a cacerolazo that New York Governor Kathy Hochul include in the state budget, which is still being discussed in the legislature, the Coverage for All bill, which would benefit some 255,000 immigrants with a health plan regardless of your legal status.
“Yes, you can, but Hochul doesn’t want to” they shouted loudly in front of the governor’s office in Manhattan, while making noise with pans, whistles and even a güira and assuring Hochul that he still has time to fulfill the promise he made to them. last year on health coverage.
The state budget should have been approved on April 1, but there have been no agreements on several projects, so the immigrants they asked Hochul to include Coverage for All, which they estimate would cost about $1.2 million a year.
They also asked Hochul to include immigrants in a waiver that he will submit to the federal government to ask for expanded health coverage for eligible New Yorkers.
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They remembered that many immigrants died during the COVID-19 pandemic because they did not go to a hospital for fear of medical bills they could not pay. “We are not going to allow that to happen again” they affirmed, assuring that after several years fighting for this project they will not give up.
“We pay taxes, we are the backbone of the state, we clean houses, we take care of children, we prepare food and deliver it and much more, we are the essential workers, we are the 255,000 New Yorkers who because of our immigration status have left us out (of the budget). We are here to demand justice,” they also shouted at the Democratic governor.
The protesters, who carried signs with messages such as “access to health care saves lives”, “open to the immigrants access to health care” or “health care is a human right,” have the support of local and federal elected officials who this week sent a letter to Hochul asking that the new budget include coverage of medical attention.
This coverage for immigrants, regardless of status, already exists in California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and Washington state.
