Last week APIFM staffer Kevin Liao made his first-ever legislative visit at an advocacy day hosted by our friends, the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network. APIFM has been a long-time member of CPEHN’s Having Our Say coalition, which brings state-wide nonprofit partners together to discuss key issues impacting communities of color across California.
Kevin flew into Sacramento from Burbank at a dreary 7AM to begin his jammed-pack day. For the first half of the morning, Kevin was able to learn about how federal and state dollars are spent then trickles down to local insurance agencies.
Kevin had the opportunity to meet with Assemblymembers Adrin Nazarian, Anthony Rendon, Blanca Rubio and Shirley Weber’s office to discuss topics surrounding the future of Medi-Cal throughout the State of California. During his sit down with each of the Assemblymember’s Offices he was able to share APIFM’s thoughts on:
- Increasing the budget for Medi-Cal so that all low-income Californians including undocumented residents can access care
- Funding community-based health care navigators to help walk community members through applying for Medi-Cal, set up an appointment, and/or explain what resources are available to them
- Improving the readability of the most important Medi-Cal document in threshold languages and English
After wrapping his very first round of legislative visits, Kevin packed his bags and returned back home just in time for dinner! That’s all in a day’s work.
