Ari Gonzalez, a 65-year-old Sacramento resident, knows it could be worse.
She has diabetes, but uses Medicare to help cover her health costs. She struggles to make ends meet, but takes care of her nutrition needs through the use of Supplemental Security Income at local farmers’ markets and grocery stores.
But for some of her friends and other Latino seniors, daily life is even more difficult.
“I have friends gone homeless—their living expenses just got too high and haven’t found family members they can move in with,” she told me. “I am trying to find help for them but it’s not easy.”
Gonzalez was in the lobby of Clinica Tepati, waiting for her friend, who is uninsured and seeks care regularly at the UC Davis student-run clinic, which caters to Latino patients.
Community programs like this one are lifelines for many Latino seniors. Other California programs provide support for getting to the doctor’s office, finding housing and affording food—and these are critical to help people thrive in resource-poor neighborhoods.
But recent federal budget conversations are putting these programs at risk.
READ THE FULL STORY AT CALIFORNIA HEALTH REPORT
By our very own Rebecca DeLaRosa Director of legislative affairs
