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LOS ANGELES -- A day before President Obama announced that he will not take executive action on immigration reform before the November elections, Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Los Angeles) renewed his pledge to extend health coverage to undocumented immigrants in California.

Speaking to a group of ethnic media reporters in Los Angeles, Lara said that his Health For All bill, which in 2014 was intended to expand health care access for the undocumented, will be the first legislation that he reintroduces when the state legislature reconvenes in January.

While the federal government puts the brakes on immigration reform, Lara is pushing forward: Our communities cant wait California has to lead where the federal government continues to fail, he said.

Im very confident we can get this done this upcoming legislative session, he continued. We all know that what happens in California moves through the rest of the nation It is our responsibility to show the federal government that we can cover our undocumented community. The state senator also discussed possibilities for how this expanded coverage might be funded.

The change cant come soon enough for undocumented individuals who have had to postpone getting care, several of whom spoke along with Lara at the press briefing convened by New America Media last week.

California takes the lead in expanding health coverage

Health care access has expanded widely under the Affordable Care Act, especially in California, where youth eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) which offers temporary legal status to some undocumented individuals who came to the United States as children also qualify for Medi-Cal.

California is a state thats really been progressive about extending coverage to a lot of people that other states arent, said John Connolly, associate director of the Santa Monica-based Insure the Uninsured Project.

Adalhi Montes, 22, is one of those who has benefited from that policy. Montes didnt know that he lacked health coverage until a year ago, when he was experiencing severe pain in one of his legs. When he tried to obtain insurance, he found out that he couldnt because he was undocumented. Instead, he had to rely on a health clinic.

You get up in the early morning, around 5 or 6, and you go to the clinic, and you wait in this line. Hopefully they have enough numbers for you to get chosen to actually see the doctor, he said. If you dont get chosen, you have to come back the next day.

Read the original:
Immigration Reform Stalled, But CAs Health For All Bill on Its Way Back