UCLA provides internship opportunities to illegal immigrants

Illegal immigrant students in California are actualizing their dreams this summer.

The UCLA Labor Center’s Dream Resource Center is allowing undocumented students to apply for Dream Summer, a ten-week summer program that provides paid internship opportunities for immigrants in California, regardless of their immigration or insurance status. The program will encourage them to advocate for immigration reform and promote universal health care access regardless of immigration status.

UCLA is among the growing number of University of California schools, including UC San Diego and UC Berkeley, to provide academic scholarships and opportunities for exclusively for illegal immigrants.   Tweet This

The Center says the program began in 2011 after the U.S. Senate failed to pass the DREAM Act in 2010, which would have given a path to citizenship to illegal immigrants who came to the United states before the age of 16. The program claims to have provided 418 internship opportunities to immigrant youth throughout the nation.

UCLA is among the growing number of University of California schools, including UC San Diego and UC Berkeley, to provide academic scholarships and opportunities exclusively for illegal immigrants, some of whom move on to become active spokesmen for immigration reform.

The US Census Bureau reports that as of July 1, 2014, Hispanics were the predominant ethnic population of California’s roughly 14.99 million residents. An estimated 68 percent of the state’s undocumented population is Mexican-born.

Seth Ronquillo, a spokesman for the Dream Resource Center, told the Daily Bruin, “Many of the participants in the program go on to become the leaders of the immigration reform movement. By working in social justice organizations, they are given the resources they need to continue in activism.”

For international students, the requirement is more stringent. “Students have to get credit for paid as well as unpaid internships to stay in the U.S. on an educational F-1 visa with approval from the Dashew Center for International Students and Scholars,” the Daily Bruin reports.

“I feel that UCLA as a public institution in California was established to educated the citizens of California as well as the U.S. and legal international students, not illegal immigrants. By only offering these paid internships to illegal immigrants UCLA is not only hurting law abiding citizens who are of all ethnicities including Hispanic, but they are also promoting and sponsoring people who are breaking the laws of our state and country. [This] is ironic since some of their funding comes from the state in which they are advocating for people to break this state's law,” Alexis Moran, a second-year Hispanic student at UCLA told Campus Reform,

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @PardesSeleh

Via: Campus Reform

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California’s Political Earthquake On Its Way

California is facing an uncertain future – and it’s not an earthquake, despite a current blockbuster movie. There’s a water crisis, an education system declared woeful by a state judge and soaring costs on all levels – water, utilities, energy, housing and taxes. These could all be eclipsed by the huge elephant in the room – unfunded pensions and health care for state and local government employees that could be $1 trillion or more.

What are our public officials doing? As was recently reported, there are no fewer than a dozen proposals in the legislature to increase taxes AND spending, despite the massive underfunding of pensions and health care. The governor crows about a California ‘comeback’ but he almost completely ignores the trillion dollar bomb expected to hit over the next 20 years. This government employee pensions and healthcare bomb only gets worse, as life expectancies expand and investments underperform the rosy scenarios built into their projections.

Take heart, California, there is change coming and it’s not the San Andreas splitting apart. It will be a political earthquake and it’s called the Neighborhood Legislature (NL). It will replace the dysfunctional and practically corrupt (if not actually corrupt in some cases) California legislature. We just received Title and Summary and we have built a professional plus volunteer organization that will soon be circulating through the neighborhood precincts of California to collect signatures and build support for this groundbreaking proposal.

Why is this such a political earthquake? Because it holds real promise that it will return power to actual representatives of the people, citizen legislators, who will be able to explore and implement the important reforms unimpeded by the allure and/or sting from special interest money spent to protect the status quo. These citizen legislators will replace the professional fundraisers and special interest representatives we currently endure.

Via: California Political Review

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Illegal immigrants: State Senate approves health care for many

SACRAMENTO -- A first-in-the-nation bill aimed at expanding health care for illegal immigrants sailed through the Senate on Tuesday even as some lawmakers acknowledged that thousands of legal residents are having to struggle to access health care through the state's Medi-Cal program.

In a 28-11 vote, a newly pared-down version of Senate Bill 4 by Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, would let undocumented Californians buy health insurance with their own money through the state's Covered California exchange if the state is given a waiver by the federal government. It would also allow anyone age 18 and under to enroll in Medi-Cal regardless of immigration status -- and let undocumented immigrants age 19 and up enroll in Medi-Cal if there's money provided in the state budget.

"We are here today trying to address this critical issue that is vital to the success of our California: ... providing care to our undocumented community,'' Lara told colleagues before the vote. "The time has come for us to lead.''

Last week, SB 4 was scaled down from a "health care for all" bill that would have allowed all undocumented immigrants to enroll in Medi-Cal. But that bill would have cost taxpayers from $175 million to $740 million annually -- something Gov. Jerry Brown said was just too expensive.

The exact cost of the amended SB 4 won't be known until an upcoming fiscal analysis is released shortly, said Lara spokesman Jesse Melgar, though he said he believes the cost will be lower than $175 million.

Via: San Jose Mercury News

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NY Times discovers doctor shortage with Medicaid expansion

I believe the first time I wrote about the expansion of Medicaid exacerbating the short of doctors was in 2009. At that point, a study came out showing the US would have a 40,000 doctor shortfall by 2020. Since not all doctors will accept Medicaid patients (fewer today), the potential shortage could easily be predicted.

Unless you're the NY Times:

Dr. Ted Mazer is one of the few ear, nose and throat specialists in this region who treat low-income people on Medicaid, so many of his patients travel long distances to see him.

But now, as California's Medicaid program is preparing for a major expansion under President Obama's health care law, Dr. Mazer says he cannot accept additional patients under the government insurance program for a simple reason: It does not pay enough.

"It's a bad situation that is likely to be made worse," he said.

His view is shared by many doctors around the country. Medicaid for years has struggled with a shortage of doctors willing to accept its low reimbursement rates and red tape, forcing many patients to wait for care, particularly from specialists like Dr. Mazer.

Yet in just five weeks, millions of additional Americans will be covered by the program, many of them older people with an array of health problems. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that nine million people will gain coverage through Medicaid next year alone. In many of the 26 states expanding the program, the newly eligible have been flocking to sign up.

Via: American Thinker
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The White House Neglects The Future To Revisit The Past

Posted November 20, 2013

In A Blog Post Today, Obama’s Chairman Of The Council Of Economic Advisers Wrote That ObamaCare Has Slowed The Rise In Health Care Costs. “The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed against a backdrop of decades of rapid growth in health care spending, and one of the ACA’s key goals was to root out serious inefficiencies in the United States health care system that increase costs and compromise patients’ quality of care. Recent data show that health care spending and prices are growing at their slowest rates in decades; it appears that something has changed for the better. While this marked slowdown likely has many causes, and these causes are not yet fully understood, the available evidence suggests that the ACA is contributing to these trends, and, moreover, is helping to improve quality of care for patients.” (Jason Furman, “New Report From The Council Of Economic Advisers: The Recent Slowdown In Health Care Cost Growth And The Role Of The Affordable Care Act,” The White House Blog , 11/20/13)

THE WHITE HOUSE CHOSE TO NEGLECT WHAT LIES AHEAD

The Recent Slowdown In Health Care Costs That The White House Trumpets Is Set To End

“The Four-Year Slowdown In U.S. Health-Care Spending Will End Next Year” And There Is No Sign That ObamaCare Will Curb Costs According To Government Actuaries. “The four-year slowdown in U.S. health-care spending will end next year, and there is no sign the Affordable Care Act will significantly curb the acceleration in costs, government actuaries said in a report.” (Alex Wayne, “Recession Not Health Law May Be Responsible For Cost Curb,” Bloomberg, 9/18/13)

• “This Report Won’t Be Good News For Those Who Have Argued That The Affordable Care Act Would Reduce Costs.” (Alex Wayne, “Recession Not Health Law May Be Responsible For Cost Curb,” Bloomberg, 9/18.13)

ObamaCare Will Increase Costs

Health Care Spending “Will Jump By 6.1 Percent Next Year” As ObamaCare Is Enacted. “The nation’s health care spending will jump by 6.1 percent next year as the big coverage expansion in President Barack Obama’s overhaul kicks in, government experts predicted Wednesday. (Andrew Miga, “Government Says Health Spending To Jump Next Year,” The Associated Press, 9/18/13)

ObamaCare Is Partly Responsible For The Growth In Spending. “But starting in 2014 growth in national health spending will accelerate to 6.1 percent, reflecting expanded insurance coverage through the ACA, through either Medicaid or the marketplaces.” (Chris Fleming, “U.S. Health Spending Growth Projected TO Average 5.8 Percent Annually Through 2022,” Health Affairs Blog , 9/18/13)

• Without ObamaCare, “The Estimated Growth Next Year Would Be 4.5 Percent.” “Without it, the estimated growth would be 4.5 percent, according to the report Wednesday from Medicare’s Office of the Actuary.” (Andrew Miga, “Government Says Health Spending To Jump Next Year,” The Associated Press, 9/18/13)

Via: GOP.com

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[CARTOON] Obamacare Disclaimer

Via: California Political Review

AP: 'Venezuela's Health Care System in Collapse'; Will Rest of U.S. Press Report It?

The Associated Press has published a great but disturbing story. Given the frequent and deserved grief yours truly administers when the wire service lets its readers, listeners, viewers, and subscribing news organizations down, it seems only fair to acknowledge fine work when it does occur. The real question is, in the politically charged U.S. health care environment, whether the AP's subscribers and other media outlets aware of Frank Bajak's Wednesday morning report will acknowledge its existence, and adequately relay the horrors contained therein.

The story is about what's left of Venezuela's "free" healthcare system. It's in shambles. The headline reads like it might be "only" doctors who say so, but Bajak's content says otherwise. Readers here need to go to the full report, because the excerpts which follow of necessity convey only a small portion of how awful things are, including indications that the country is moving ever closer to becoming another Cuba:

DOCTORS SAY VENEZUELA'S HEALTH CARE IN COLLAPSE

... (Evelina) Gonzalez is on a list of 31 breast cancer patients waiting to have tumors removed at one of Venezuela's biggest medical facilities, Maracay's Central Hospital. But like legions of the sick across the country, she's been neglected by a health care system doctors say is collapsing after years of deterioration.

Doctors at the hospital sent home 300 cancer patients last month when supply shortages and overtaxed equipment made it impossible for them to perform non-emergency surgeries.

... "I feel like I've been abandoned," Gonzalez, 37, tells a bright-eyed hospital psychologist trying to boost her morale. Her right eye is swollen by glaucoma diagnosed two years ago but left untreated when she had trouble getting an appointment.

Doctors not allied with the government say many patients began dying from easily treatable illnesses when Venezuela's downward economic slide accelerated after Chavez's death from cancer in March. Doctors say it's impossible to know how many have died, and the government doesn't keep such numbers, just as it hasn't published health statistics since 2010.

Almost everything needed to mend and heal is in critically short supply ...

Last month, the government suspended organ donations and transplants ...

Via: Newsbusters

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Landrieu Admits She Broke Her Promise

Posted October 30, 2013

Today, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) Said She Would Offer Legislation To Stop People From Being Kicked Off Of Their Health Plans Due To ObamaCare. “Sen. Mary Landrieu said Wednesday she would propose legislation to ensure all Americans could keep their existing insurance coverage under Obamacare, a fresh sign of the political problems the law’s rollout has created for congressional Democrats. Landrieu, a Democrat who faces a tough reelection in Louisiana in 2014, said she would either offer her own bill or formally sign onto another measure that would ensure that the law would not force anyone off of their existing health policies.” (Manu Raju, “Landrieu To Propose Halting Vanishing Health Plans,” Politico, 10/30/13)

But Landrieu Was One Of The Many Democrats Who Promised ObamaCare Would Let People Keep Their Insurance

In 2009, Landrieu Said On The Floor Of The Senate That “Those Individuals Who Like The Coverage They Already Have Will Be Able To Keep Their Current Plan.” LANDRIEU: “Individuals and small businesses that do not have coverage would be able to select a private insurance plan from a range of options sold on a National Insurance Exchange. Lower and middle income people would receive subsidies to help them afford this insurance, while those individuals who like the coverage they already have will be able to keep their current plan. This is a very accurate description of this bill before us–the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.” (Sen. Mary Landrieu, Floor Remarks, 12/22/09)

Just Yesterday, Landrieu Said The Promise Had Been Kept, Claiming Democrats Had Only Promised That People Who Had “Good Insurance” Could Keep It. “According to Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Democrats had only promised that Americans could keep their insurance if it was ‘good insurance.’ We said when we passed that, ‘If you had insurance that was good insurance that you wanted to keep it, you could keep it,’ Landrieu said.” (John McCormack and Michael Warren, “Senate Democrats Struggle To Defend Health Insurance Promises,” The Weekly Standard , 10/29/13)

Now Landrieu Is Blaming Obama For Her Broken Promise

Asked Today About People Losing Their Existing Health Coverage Due To ObamaCare, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) Blamed Obama. “Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, who like Begich is up for re-election in a Republican-leaning state, acknowledged that Obama’s claims were an important political sales pitch that she and other Democrats relied on to make their case for Obamacare.” (David M. Drucker, “Democrats Concede That Obama Oversold Promise For Health Care Law,” Washington Examiner , 10/30/13)

• Landrieu: “The President Said It Many, Many Times. … I Don’t Think He Intentionally Oversold It, But If That’s Not What’s Happening Then It Needs To Be Fixed, Because It Was Clearly A Promise That He Made.” (David M. Drucker, “Democrats Concede That Obama Oversold Promise For Health Care Law,” Washington Examiner , 10/30/13)

Via: GOP.gov

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A face to Detroit's bankruptcy: Paralyzed firefighter to lose health benefits

The federal government has money problems. 

So, imagine the federal government telling wounded warriors coming back from overseas that they'll no longer take care of them, and instead, those veterans will get $200 a month for healthcare and a pair of broom sticks to walk around on. 

Outrageous right? 

Well that's what Detroit's wounded warriors, those who wore the badge and honorably served the community, are going to get if the bankruptcy stands as is. 

Here's one of those warriors, firefighter Brendan Milewski, in his own words. 

"August 13, 2010 - Friday the 13th - I was only at work for a couple minutes, never even stepped foot in the firehouse, taking my gear out of the car. We've got to run down to Jefferson and Drexel. We were working on the scene for ten, fifteen minutes and, without warning, a building collapsed on us.

"I was hit with a chunk of limestone the size of a parking lot, and that basically exploded my seventh thoracic vertebra. Now I'm left to live the rest of my life as a T6 Paraplegic.

"It's a complete loss of identity for me, to be in this position now and not amongst my peers, and seen as weak and feeble and handicapped and disabled. I hate all these words. I hate that they describe me. 

"I always understood that death was a legitimate possibility; I've seen enough of my friends die. I can't say Walter Harris' name enough. I never considered being injured to the point where I wasn't going to be who I was before, and having to live with the consequences. One would only assume that you make these kind of sacrifices at work, performing your job, that you'd be taken care of.

"I got a letter saying that my healthcare, through the city of Detroit, was going to be terminated as of January 1, 2014, and that, if I don't have another plan purchased by December 15th of this year, that I'll have a gap in coverage. And they're offering a $200 a month stipend to supplement the cost of purchasing my own health insurance.

Via: My Fox Detroit

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[VIDEO] Even MSNBC Agrees: Obamacare Rollout ‘Disastrous’

BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff
October 28, 2013 11:33 am

Thomas Roberts and MSNBC contributor Jonathan Alter, both prominent liberal figures, discussed the failed Obamacare launch Monday morning. Roberts remarked that the rollout has been “disastrous.” Alter agreed with Roberts and foreshadowed doom for Sebelius when she testifies before Congress this week.

“All she needs to do is just get out of there alive, basically,” he said. “It’s not going to go well, no matter what happens.”

Via: WFB

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WATCH: Intel Chairman Says ObamaCare Website Not Safe For Public To Use

Excerpted from The Hill: Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) says he’s more concerned about HealthCare.gov’s problems today than he was last week.

“It was very clear to me in the hearing that they don’t have an overarching solid cybersecurity plan to prevent the loss of private information,” he said Sunday morning on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Rogers, who’s chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, is also a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and sat in on the Thursday hearing in which the ObamaCare website contractors testified.

“I’m even more concerned today than I was last week,” he said.

Via: Pat Dollard

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WHO IS THE MYSTERIOUS OBAMACARE GIRL FEATURED ON THE WEBSITE’S HOME PAGE?

You have probably seen her face before, but do you know who that brunette girl is smiling back at you when you log onto healthcare.gov?

Odds are you don’t, but you aren’t alone.

Multiple media outlets, including USA Today and Fox News, have scoured the Internet and looked through stock photo agencies’ catalogs, social media and even through photographs of Democratic operatives — but the mysterious girl has yet to be found.

–Have a tip? Scroll to the bottom of this page and leave it in our tip box–

(Image Source: Healthcare.gov)

The woman, who media outlets are desperately trying to identify, has become the face of the glitch-ridden healthcare.gov website.

CNN even devoted an entire segment to her, asking for information about who she may be.

Via: The Blaze

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Next up: Medicaid expansion meltdown

For those of you being entertained by the Obamacare disaster, I've got good news. Pop some more popcorn, sit back in your chair and watch the meltdown that will occur when the Medicaid expansion begins on November 1.

Politico:

A new phase of the Obamacare launch is coming, this one involving Medicaid. And it could be déjà vu all over again.

On Nov. 1, the health law's malfunctioning enrollment system is supposed to send reams of data to states so they can begin placing thousands of people into Medicaid. But state officials say that transfer system has barely been tested and could be vulnerable to technical failures like those that have crippled the broader Obamacare sign-up process.

"We're flying blind on what the process is," said Kathleen Nolan, state policy head of the National Association of Medicaid Directors. "There hasn't been the capacity to do a lot of the testing. ... There's a natural concern that with a major load of data to be sent all at once - there is concern that what has been tested may not be able to handle the volume."

It's a challenge for state governments, and people trying to sign up for the low-income health care program could be left unsure of their coverage status.

Via: American Thinker

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